The pulmonary artery and the aorta are the main arteries leaving the heart. The root is where each of these arteries connect to the heart. In some congenital heart defects, the pulmonary artery is connected to the heart in the wrong location, and it can be smaller than normal, which is called pulmonary stenosis.
Placing a conduit (artificial tube) to replace a valve or artery that is too small is a part of the solution for repairing these types of heart defects, but artificial conduits can fail or wear out over time and need to be surgically replaced. At the Betty Irene Moore Children’s Heart Center at Stanford Children’s Health, we can offer pulmonary root translocation, using you/your child’s natural anatomy for a longer-lasting solution. Specifically, our approach avoids a type of artificial tube called an RV-PA (right ventricle to pulmonary artery) conduit by moving the pulmonary root to a better location, even if it is small. When a child’s native tissue is used instead of a conduit, the tissue can grow along with the heart as the child grows. In this way, we help avoid future heart surgeries.
Conditions treated with pulmonary root translocation >
