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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2000;120:1047-1052
© 2000 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Surgery for Congenital Heart Disease

Coronary arterial size late after the atrial inversion procedure for transposition of the great arteries: Implications for the arterial switch operation

From the Division of Pediatric Cardiology,^a Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Ga, and the Departments of Pediatrics^b and Cardiothoracic Surgery,^c University of California, San Francisco, Calif.

Address for reprints: Zahid Amin, MD, University of Nebraska/Creighton University, Children's Hospital, Joint Division of Pediatric Cardiology, 8301 Dodge St, Omaha, NE 68114 (E-mail: zamin{at}chsomaha.org).

Background: Coronary flow reserve in the hypertrophied ventricle is reduced. One contributing factor may be the size of the proximal coronary arteries. In patients who undergo atrial inversion procedures for transposition of the great arteries, the left coronary artery supplies the pulmonary ventricle and may be smaller than the right coronary artery. We hypothesized that the dimensions of the coronary arteries may correlate with symptomatic status after atrial inversion and may be an important factor when these patients are considered for the arterial switch operation.
Methods: The proximal left and right coronary arteries were measured in 9 patients with transposition and failure of the systemic right ventricle after atrial inversion, 10 asymptomatic patients after atrial inversion, and 10 patients with normal hearts. The diameters of the coronary arteries were indexed to body surface area and compared.
Results: The absolute and indexed diameters of the right coronary artery were greater in symptomatic patients than in asymptomatic patients (indexed: 3.1 ± 0.6 vs 2.4 ± 0.4 mm/m², P < .001) or control patients (2.0 ± 0.3, P < .001), and the absolute diameter of the left coronary artery was smaller (2.9 ± 0.7 vs 3.6 ± 0.5 mm, P = .003 [asymptomatic], 3.6 ± 0.5 mm, P = .01 [control]). In symptomatic patients, the absolute and indexed diameters of the left coronary artery were smaller than those of the right (indexed: 2.1 ± 0.6 vs 3.1 ± 0.6 mm/m², P < .001). By contrast, there was no difference in asymptomatic patients (2.2 ± 0.5 vs 2.4 ± 0.4 mm/m², P = .44), and the left coronary artery was larger in normal control patients (2.2 ± 0.4 vs 2.0 ± 0.3 mm/m², P < .001).
Conclusions: Differences in the sizes of the proximal coronary arteries may be related to symptomatic status in patients with transposition of the great arteries who have undergone an atrial inversion procedure, as well as to the efficacy of ventricular retraining. When pulmonary artery banding and subsequent arterial switch are considered for patients with a Mustard or Senning procedure and a failing systemic right ventricle, the size of the proximal coronary arteries may be an important factor and should be evaluated with preoperative imaging studies.

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				A. Dodge-Khatami, A. Kadner, F. Berger, H. Dave, M. I. Turina, and R. Pretre In the Footsteps of Senning: Lessons Learned From Atrial Repair of Transposition of the Great Arteries Ann. Thorac. Surg., April 1, 2005; 79(4): 1433 - 1444. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]