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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Advisor: Ajit Yoganathan, PhD (BME)
Committee:
John Oshinski, PhD (BME)
J Brandon Dixon, PhD (ME)
Timothy Slesnick (Children's Healthcare of Atlanta)
Shriprasad Deshpande (Children's National)
Mark Fogel (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia)
Hemodynamic Assessment of Proposed Solutions for Fontan Failure
Single ventricle heart defects are among the most severe types of congenital heart problems and require surgical intervention for survival. Thankfully, over the last 40 years surgeons have pioneered a set of 3 staged surgeries to palliate single ventricle heart defects, which results in a total cavopulmonary connection. Short term outcomes of these “Fontan” patients are very promising, with a 1 year survival rate around 95%. However, as these patients age, long term complications are inevitable. The central purpose of this thesis is to investigate the effectiveness of current, clinically implemented “solutions” for two of the most common modes of Fontan failure including pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) and liver disease. Specific Aim 1 will test if surgical planning can be used to accurately predict post-operative hepatic flow distribution (a factor in PAVM formation), and if Y-grafts can provide more balanced hepatic flow distribution than traditional Fontan connections. Specific Aim 2 will test if the extent of liver fibrosis in Fontan patients is associated with poor hemodynamics, and if ventricular assist devices can decrease Fontan hepatic congestion by augmenting flow and decreasing inferior vena cava pressure.
