In this surgery a piece of Liam's pericardium (the sack around the heart) was harvested. A piece of gortex was placed over the section of the now missing pericardium. A tube (13mm in size) was made from the pericardium and the 2 collaterals were inserted into that tube. Then an adult sized shunt (16mm) made from gortex was attached to the pericardial tube. To that, a 5mm gortex shunt was attached. This is the size that Liam's body can currently handle. This small shunt was shunted back to Liam's heart - actually the sub-clavian artery. Liam is also missing the Pulmonary valve (main Pulmonary) hence this is why this shunt had to come off of the aorta.

Once this all was in place the collaterals were detached from the aorta. The purpose of this surgery is to have one blood source feeding the lung. In Liam's case he had two sources. The surgeon brings together or "unifocalizes" the vessels so that the lung is now receiving a uniform pressure and blood flow.

When Liam has his final repair a homograft will be used and the adult sized shunt can be attached to the homograft when Liam is big enough to handle that size.

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A very special thank you to Becky for the wonderful background!