[Use of the internal thoracic artery as a suitable conduit for systemic-pulmonary shunt; a case report]

There are a number of systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunts being performed by various surgeons. Currently the most widely used systemic-pulmonary shunt is the modified Blalock-Tausig shunt. This shunt is highly effective even in neonates with small pulmonary arteries. The case of a 15-year-old girl in whom the internal thoracic artery was used to create a systemic-pulmonary artery shunt after the failure of a previous Blalock-Tausig shunt is reported. This was the first report of such a case in which the internal mammary artery was used to establish systemic to pulmonary arterial flow in Iran