Pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect is a complex congenital cardiac anomaly. The blood is supplied to the lungs through a patent ductus arteriosus, a major aortopulmonary collateral artery, or in very rare cases from a coronary artery–pulmonary artery fistula. We present two cases with coronary artery–pulmonary artery fistula which underwent surgical intervention. In our first patient, the main pulmonary artery was supplied from the left main coronary artery. In the second patient, the right pulmonary artery originated from the left main coronary artery and continued to the right lung posteriorly to the aorta, while the left pulmonary artery originated from the patent ductus arteriosus. The difference in our cases is that the coronary artery pulmonary artery fistulas behave like major aortopulmonary collateral arteries originating from the coronary arteries. These fistulas were the main source of pulmonary blood flow.

No reports on pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect with the combination of double aortic arch and interruption between left and right carotid arteries have been published so far.

We describe the finding of unsuspected aortic coarctation, discovered by catheterisation at 4 months, in a neonate first daignosed on the fourth day of life as having tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia and major aorto-to-pulmonary collateral arteries. This previously unreported combination contravenes the established theory of patterns of flow during fetal life, and presented difficult issues in clinical management.

Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia is one of the most challenging congenital cardiac malformations, for the morphologist, cardiologist and surgeon alike. Much of the difficulty in this lesion concerns the nature and development of pulmonary arterial supply, and the manner in which complete segmental supply to the lungs can be successfully restored or maintained. In this review, we discuss the anatomy and nomenclature of the lesion, emphasising the variability that can occur in pulmonary arterial anatomy, particularly in the presence of systemic-to-pulmonary collateral arteries. We speculate on the likely embryologic origins of these connections. Then by means of anatomic-clinical correlations, we emphasise the diagnostic approach to delineating the origin and extent of the pulmonary vasculature.

Follow-up cardiac catheterization and angiography was performed in 23 patients after complete, staged repair of pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect and multiple systemic-to-pulmonary collateral arteries. Time interval from repair varied from 0.2 to 89 months (mean 26 months). Major residual anomalies of arborization of the pulmonary arteries, with or without pulmonary vascular disease, were present in six patients, two of whom had die patch on the ventricular septal defect perforated because of systemic or suprasystemic right ventricular pressure in the early postoperative period after repair. Both of these children later died, while the other four patients were found to have moderately to severely elevated ventricular pressure ratios and pulmonary arterial pressure measurements, though they are all alive at follow-up intervals from 20 months to 6.8 years. The remaining 17 patients all had hemodynamically satisfactory or good results, with pulmonary arterial mean pressures ranging from 8 to 30 mm Hg (mean 22 mm Hg) and pressure ratios between the ventricles from 0.24 to 0.75 (mean 0.43)—the higher ratios generally reflecting gradients across the conduit valve. Angiography demonstrated that the hypoplastic pulmonary arteries increased in size to normal dimensions, during staging, in most patients, though abnormalities of arborization persisted in several. Analysis of the data from the entire cohort of 58 patients, who were accepted for staging towards repair, showed a significant association between early age at entry to the program and likelihood of complete repair being achievable.

We report a patient with tetralogy of Fallot and pulmonary atresia who displayed an atypical aortopulmonary collateral artery extending from the ascending aorta to the pulmonary trunk. The internal thoracic artery, instead of the right subclavian artery (which was aberrant), was used as the source ofblood during unifocalization of the right pulmonary arteries to avoid the potential formation of a vascular ring. Unifocalization in the left lung was carried out by enlargement with a patch of the previously stenotic Blalock-Taussig shunt. The palliation set the scene for final intracardiac repair achieved one month after unifocalization of the right sides. The postoperative course was good and uneventful.

We report a patient with tetralogy of Fallot and pulmonary atresia in whom the predominant extracardiac supply of arterial blood was via an aortopulmonary window. Major aortopulmonary collateral arteries originating from the descending thoracic aorta provided an additional source of pulmonary blood flow. The patient underwent successful correction and the postoperative recovery was uneventful.

As far as we are aware, a bicuspid aortic valve has not previously been reported in the setting of tetralogy of Fallot and pulmonary atresia. We describe this association in a newborn who presented with a murmur and cyanosis. Echocardiography showed tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, and also a moderately stenotic bicuspid aortic valve. The patient underwent open-heart surgery guided by transesophageal echocardiography. Postoperatively, there was only mild obstruction across both outflow tracts. We have also reviewed the pertinent data from our Jesse E. Edwards Registry of Cardiovascular Disease to establish the incidence of bicuspid aortic valve in the setting of obstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract, finding the association in no patients with pulmonary atresia and tetralogy of Fallot, in 0.7% of those with tetralogy of Fallot and pulmonary stenosis, but in 6.6% of those with pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum.