Intracardiac Repair of Double Outlet Right Ventricle

Intracardiac repair of double outlet right ventricle (DORV) remains controversial. DORV is a particular mode of ventriculo-arterial connection and not a specific congenital heart disease. It can exhibit a wide spectrum of anatomic and physiologic variations. This heterogeneity has naturally led to controversies over the anatomical definition, classification schemes, and the techniques for surgical repair. From a surgical standpoint, the functional classification that was adopted together by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), The European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) and the Association of the European Pediatric Cardiologists (AEPC), provides useful information to understand the anatomical variations and the choice of the surgical technique. The lesions that remain a surgical challenge are those where “200% of the great vessels” arise from the right ventricle. Namely: DORV-nc-VSD and DORV-AVSD-heterotaxy. Both of these lesions have traditionally been indications for single-ventricle palliation. In our series, there was one death in 15 of these challenging patients (6.7% mortality) following bi-ventricular repair. Two patients required a one and a half repair. Long-term results of biventricular repair of complex DORV are not yet available. These data would be crucial to validate the intracardiac repair technique.”