Frontiers in Pediatrics (Feb 2024)

Case Report: Transcatheter interventional procedure to innominate vein turn-down procedure for failing fontan circulation

  • Damien Schaffner,
  • Maria-Helena Perez,
  • Rafael Duran,
  • René Pretre,
  • Stefano Di Bernardo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2024.1341443
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

Read online

Fontan physiology creates a chronic state of decreased cardiac output and systemic venous congestion, leading to liver cirrhosis/malignancy, protein-losing enteropathy, chylothorax, or plastic bronchitis. Creating a fenestration improves cardiac output and relieves some venous congestion. The anatomic connection of the thoracic duct to the subclavian-jugular vein junction exposes the lymphatic system to systemic venous hypertension and could induce plastic bronchitis. To address this complication, two techniques have been developed. A surgical method that decompresses the thoracic duct by diverting the innominate vein to the atrium, and a percutaneous endovascular procedure that uses a covered stent to create an extravascular connection between the innominate vein and the left atrium. We report a novel variant transcatheter intervention of the innominate vein turn-down procedure without creating an extravascular connection in a 39-month-old patient with failing Fontan circulation complicated by plastic bronchitis and a 2-year post-intervention follow-up.

Keywords