Background: There are limited data available on the outcomes of single-ventricle patients who have undergone a nonfenestrated extracardiac Fontan procedure. This study examined the clinical experience of a large cohort of patients from a single institution who received this procedure.
Methods: A retrospective data set of 145 patients who underwent a nonfenestrated extracardiac Fontan procedure from July 1997 to September 2008 was reviewed.
Results: The hospital survival was 94.5%. Takedown of the Fontan conduit was necessary in 4 patients (2.8%), and 3 of these 4 patients were also operative deaths. Although female sex (p = 0.048), cardiopulmonary bypass time (p = 0.002), and aortic cross-clamp time (p = 0.007) were found to be significant in the univariate analysis, only sex (p = 0.035; odds ratio, 3.869; 95% confidence limits, 1.097 to 13.644) and cardiopulmonary bypass time in minutes (p = 0.001; odds ratio, 1.023; 95% confidence limits, 1.009 to 1.037) were found to be significant in the multivariate analysis for hospital survival. The late survival was 95.6% (131 of 137 patients) with a mean follow-up of 3.3 years (range, 0.0 to 10.8 years). The freedom from Fontan failure was 92% at 1 year, 89% at 5 years, and 82% at 10 years. Stepwise logistic regression found cardiopulmonary bypass time (p = 0.003; odds ratio, 1.023; 95% confidence limits, 1.008 to 1.039) to be a significant risk factor for late survival.
Conclusions: The nonfenestrated extracardiac Fontan procedure can be successfully used in the palliation of single-ventricle patients.
2010 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.