Impact of Time Interval Between Glenn and Fontan Procedures on Fontan Operative and Long-Term Follow-up Results

Objective The bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt (BCPS) is an effective palliative procedure which has been widely used to boost outcome of the Fontan procedure. However, there is no standard duration time between these two procedures. Therefore, we investigated whether different time intervals between BCPS and Fontan procedure affects morbidity and mortality of Fontan patients. Methods Between 2004 and 2016, 210 post-BCPS patients underwent Fontan operation at Fuwai Hospital. The median interval between BCPS and Fontan procedure was 3.7 years (range 0.55–11.86 years) and this was used to divide study cohort into Group 1 ( 3.7 years; n = 86). We analyzed these patients retrospectively in terms of their preoperative characteristics and post-operative and follow-up results. Results Weight z -scores for age at BCPS (− 0.73 ± 1.39 vs − 1.17 ± 1.60, p