pediatrics
Double Outlet Right Ventricle
Treatment of Double Outlet Right Ventricle
Medications to treat cyanosis and heart failure Surgery During the newborn period, prostaglandins may be needed for severe cyanosis if critical pulmonary stenosis is present. If pulmonary blood flow is greatly increased, heart failure treatment is required. However, surgical intervention is invariably required. In the most common variety of DORV with a subaortic VSD, a complete repair is possible with closure of the VSD in such a way as to direct left ventricular outflow to the aorta with an intracardiac patch. Pulmonary stenosis, if present, needs to be relieved. In the Taussig-Bing anomaly, the repair is more complex and involves an arterial switch along with closure of the VSD, directing the left ventricular outflow to the aorta. In cases in which the VSD is uncommitted to either great vessel, surgical correction is more difficult and may require a palliative procedure, such as an aortopulmonary shunt (see photo) or staged procedures to a Fontan operation. 