Stenting an aortopulmonary conduit with peripheral cardiopulmonary bypass support

Abstract

Although surgically created aortopulmonary (AP) shunts are uncommon in the adult congenital heart disease population, they are often used in patients with pulmonary atresia. For these patients, the shunt is a vital supply of pulmonary blood flow and thus obstruction of the shunt may lead to pulmonary hypoperfusion and hypoxia thereby increasing morbidity and mortality. This report describes a safe and effective method of stenting the conduit with the hemodynamic support of peripheral cardiopulmonary bypass (PCB). Prior to the procedure, a multimodality assessment of a stenosis in a kinked AP conduit using computed tomography, angiography, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), and pressure wire assessment (PWA) was utilized. While PCB, IVUS, and PWA have all been used to great effect in various clinical scenarios, the combined use of these techniques has not been previously been described in the setting of intervention in adult congenital heart disease.