Timmys pre-op went extremely well today. For the medical people here is what the surgery will consist of in a nutshell.
Determination from heart cath-
Timmy has a hole in between his ventricles in the septal wall and has no pulmonary artery linking his right ventricle to his pulmonary branches. In utero and after birth Timmys body adjusted by growing collateral vessels that connect directly from his descending aorta to his pulmonary branches (thank god he has the branches some kids don't and the vessels connect directly to the lungs themselves-much more serious).
So basically in Korea they put in a Potts shunt- a synthetic hose that connects his ascending aorta directly to the right pulmonary branch (which this surgeon says they probably thought was attached to a pulmonary artery that was narrowed, but again Timmy doesn't have a pulmonary artery and they wouldn't have necessarily seen that).
So right now Timmys blood flows from body to right atrium to right ventricle to left ventricle to ascending
aorta (where some is pumped through the Potts shunt into the lungs and then back around through the left atrium to the left/right ventricle (it's a big hole) to the ascending aorta again hopefully making it to the descending aorta (where his collateral vessels could re-route some already oxygenated blood back to the lungs again and through the cycle once more) and eventually the body receives a combination of completely unoxygenated blood and blood that may have cycled through the lungs several times. Not a very conducive system which is why his heart sounds like a washing machine. He also is not perfusing the top right and left lung lobes due to strictures. So only using about 70-85% of lungs.
Determination from heart cath-
Timmy has a hole in between his ventricles in the septal wall and has no pulmonary artery linking his right ventricle to his pulmonary branches. In utero and after birth Timmys body adjusted by growing collateral vessels that connect directly from his descending aorta to his pulmonary branches (thank god he has the branches some kids don't and the vessels connect directly to the lungs themselves-much more serious).
So basically in Korea they put in a Potts shunt- a synthetic hose that connects his ascending aorta directly to the right pulmonary branch (which this surgeon says they probably thought was attached to a pulmonary artery that was narrowed, but again Timmy doesn't have a pulmonary artery and they wouldn't have necessarily seen that).
So right now Timmys blood flows from body to right atrium to right ventricle to left ventricle to ascending
aorta (where some is pumped through the Potts shunt into the lungs and then back around through the left atrium to the left/right ventricle (it's a big hole) to the ascending aorta again hopefully making it to the descending aorta (where his collateral vessels could re-route some already oxygenated blood back to the lungs again and through the cycle once more) and eventually the body receives a combination of completely unoxygenated blood and blood that may have cycled through the lungs several times. Not a very conducive system which is why his heart sounds like a washing machine. He also is not perfusing the top right and left lung lobes due to strictures. So only using about 70-85% of lungs.
1 comment:
wow---Thanks for all that information....I know I didn't understand it all, but it helped me visualize it all and see how serious this really is. Timmy I am praying for you little man:)
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