Description:
Systemic to pulmonary shunts are surgically-created connections between the aorta and a pulmonary artery in children with cyanotic congenital heart disease such as tetralogy of Fallot or tricuspid atresia. They increase the blood supply to the lungs and the arterial oxygen saturation. The procedure is palliative, aiming to improve symptoms. In some children, definitive surgery may be possible later. The most common type of systemic to pulmonary shunt is known as the Blalock-Taussig shunt.
Systemic to pulmonary shunts may become blocked or narrowed (stenosed) due to scarring or thrombosis. Balloon angioplasty of shunts is a palliative procedure carried out to relieve the blockage or narrowing. The procedure involves inserting a catheter into a large blood vessel (usually in the groin), passing it up in to the chest under X-ray control and inflating a balloon in the narrowed area. This may avoid a repeat surgical systemic to pulmonary shunt procedure.
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