Kawashima procedure
SpecialtyCardiology

The Kawashima procedure is used for congenital heart disease with a single effective ventricle and an interrupted inferior vena cava (IVC). It was first performed in 1978 and reported in 1984.[1]

Procedure

Technically it is very similar to the bidirectional Glenn procedure used to direct half the body's venous blood flow into the lungs. However, in patients with interrupted IVC, most of the blood from the lower body actually joins the blood from the upper body before returning to the heart via the superior vena cava (SVC). Therefore, the redirection of SVC blood to the lungs (as in the Glenn) results in much more than half the venous blood flow being diverted.[citation needed]

After Kawashima, the only de-oxygenated blood returning to the heart is from the abdominal organs (via the hepatic veins). As a result, there is much less hypoxia than after Glenn, and the heart is pumping less additional blood than after Glenn. However, the hypoxia can worsen over time (because of the development of microscopic AVMs in the lungs that allow blood to pass through without being oxygenated),[2] and therefore these children still may need a complete Fontan procedure in the end.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ Kawashima Y, Kitamura S, Matsuda H, Shimazaki Y, Nakano S, Hirose H (1984). "Total cavopulmonary shunt operation in complex cardiac anomalies. A new operation". J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 87 (1): 74–81. PMID 6690861.
  2. ^ Kawashima Y (1997). "Cavopulmonary shunt and pulmonary arteriovenous malformations". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 63 (4): 930–2. doi:10.1016/S0003-4975(97)00055-6. PMID 9124964.
  3. ^ McElhinney DB, Kreutzer J, Lang P, Mayer JE, del Nido PJ, Lock JE (2005). "Incorporation of the hepatic veins into the cavopulmonary circulation in patients with heterotaxy and pulmonary arteriovenous malformations after a Kawashima procedure". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 80 (5): 1597–603. doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2005.05.101. PMID 16242423.
  4. ^ Brown JW, Ruzmetov M, Vijay P, Rodefeld MD, Turrentine MW (2005). "Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations in children after the Kawashima operation". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 80 (5): 1592–6. doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2005.04.043. PMID 16242422.


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