Background: Congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries is a complex cardiac lesion, usually associated with ventricular septal defect, left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, and tricuspid valve abnormalities. A subset of patients without left ventricular outflow tract obstruction have undergone Senning plus arterial switch operation in an attempt to place the left ventricle in the systemic circuit and the right ventricle in the pulmonary circuit.
Methods: Fourteen patients have had the operation performed since July 1989. Age and weight medians were 12 months (range, 0.5 to 120 months) and 8.2 kg (range, 3.2 to 34 kg). All but 1 patient had a left ventricular to right ventricular pressure ratio greater than 0.7, due to a large ventricular septal defect (with or without a previous pulmonary artery band), severe congestive heart failure caused by right ventricular dysfunction and tricuspid insufficiency, or a pulmonary artery band for left ventricular retraining. At least 10 patients had strong contraindications to "classic" repair, including right ventricular hypoplasia (n = 2), moderate to severe right ventricular dysfunction (n = 5), or moderate to severe tricuspid insufficiency (n = 9).
Results: There was one hospital death, occurring in a neonate (7%; 95% confidence interval = 0% to 34%). Actuarial survival beyond 10 months is 81% (95% confidence interval = 42% to 95%), currently with 389 patient-months of total follow-up time. The median grade of tricuspid insufficiency fell from 3/4 preoperatively to 1/4 postoperatively (p = 0.003). Right ventricular function is normal in 11/12 current survivors, all but 1 of whom are in New York Heart Association class I or II.
Conclusions: Senning plus arterial switch operation is a good option for selected patients with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries with a similar or lower early risk (as compared with classic repairs). Some of the long-term problems associated with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries may be avoided with this strategy.