Univentricular Heart: Natural Survival into the Second Decade of Life

ABSTRACT

Univentricular heart, or single ventricle, is characterized by the entire flow from the two atria being carried directly through the left and right AV valves into the single ventricular chamber. According to the morphologic structure of the ventricle, univentricular heart is classified as left ventricular type, right ventricular type and rarely intermediate type. Natural survival depends primarily on factors that limit pulmonary blood flow, such as an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance or the presence of pulmonic stenosis. Other variables of survival include the morphologic type of single ventricle, the great artery anatomy and the adequacy of the atrioventricular connection. To our knowledge, this is first report in our country of a patient with single ventricle of left ventricular morphology who naturally survived into the second decade of life.