Patient Population:
With the approval of the institutional ethics committee, 92 consecutive patients who underwent the Fontan operation between January 2017 and December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. A protocol-based postoperative management was adopted at July 2018. Patients operated before the protocol were defined as Group 1 (n = 48), and patients operated after the protocol were defined as Group 2 (n = 44). Patients who underwent hepatic re-routing and a single-stage Fontan procedure were also included in the study.
All patients underwent a cardiac catheterization before Fontan procedure. Mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), transpulmonic gradient (TPG), McGoon and Nakata indexes, right pulmonary artery and left pulmonary artery z-scores, ventricular end-diastolic pressure were calculated. In echocardiographic examination, ventricular functions, atrioventricular valve insufficiency, ventricular outflow tract obstruction were evaluated. Postoperative drainage output, chest tube duration, reinsertion of chest tube, mechanichal ventilation, ICU and LOHS and rehospitalization (within 30 days postoperatively) were recorded.