After 15 years of follow-up, the overall survival, the functional status, and the cardiopulmonary performance of survivors of the extracardiac Fontan procedure compare favorably with other series of patients who underwent the lateral tunnel approach. The incidence of late deaths, obstructions of the cavopulmonary pathway, re-interventions, and arrhythmias is lower than that reported late after other Fontan-type operations.

Background. Surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD) has changed considerably during the last three decades. The results of primary repair have steadily improved, to allow treating almost all patients within the pediatric age; nonetheless an increasing population of adult patients requires surgical treatment. The objective of this study is to present the early surgical results of patients who require surgery for CHD in the adult population within a multicentered European study population.Methods. Data relative to the hospital course of 2,012 adult patients (age >18 years) who required surgical treatment for CHD from January 1, 1997 through December 31, 2004 were reviewed. Nineteen cardiothoracic centers from 13 European countries contributed to the data collection.Results. Mean age at surgery was 34.4 ؎ 14.53 years. Most of the operations were corrective procedures (1,509 patients, 75%), followed by reoperations (464 patients,

After arterial switch operation, there is an increasing frequency of neoaortic regurgitation, which may lead to significant valvular dysfunction later in life. The trap-door type of coronary reimplantation is associated with an increased risk for valvular dysfunction, possibly because of a distortion of the sinotubular junction geometry. For this reason, we recommend the punch technique for repair in all but the most complicated coronary pattern.

VirtualTouch is able to identify the presence of cirrhosis with good accuracy, shows good interobserver reproducibility and the correlation of its values with those obtained by transient elastography with Fibroscan is good.