Angulation Effects of Antegrade Pulmonary Blood Flow on Cavopulmonary Anastomosis: A Computational Hemodynamic Study

Cavopulmonary anastomosis is a common surgical method for patients with single-ventricle. Studies found that preservation of the antegrade pulmonary blood flow (APBF) can improve postoperative arterial blood oxygen saturations. Here, a patient-specific 3D model was reconstructed as an original model. Based on it, we imitated four possible surgical models with different angulation between APBF and vertical plane of superior vena cava (SVC) to 75°, 60°, 45° and 30° by the method of computer-aided design (CAD). Local hemodynamics of the connected area were analyzed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The results indicated that changing the APBF will affect local hemodynamic characteristics, and the angle of APBF should be appropriately controlled in clinical practice.