Aortopulmonary Window Repair in Children

Abstract

An aortopulmonary window (APW) is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly, which involves communication between the ascending aorta and the main pulmonary artery. It may be an isolated anomaly (simple APW) or associated with concomitant cardiovascular anomalies (complex APW). Contemporary repair of simple APW has a mortality approaching zero. Mortality is almost always due to concomitant cardiovascular anomalies. One of the most common concomitant cardiovascular anomalies is an interrupted aortic arch. Rarely, an APW may have a concomitant anomalous coronary artery. Herein we describe the surgical technique to repair APW with associated interrupted aortic arch.