Bovine Jugular Vein as Right Ventricle-to-Pulmonary Artery Valved Conduit
Antonio F. Corno MD, Michel Hurni MD, Helen Griffin RN, Omar M. Galal MD,
Maurice Payot MD, Nicole Sekarski MD, Piergiorgio Tozzi MD, Ludwig K. von Segesser MD

The Contegra® valved conduit, which consists of a bovine jugular vein with a trileaflet valve, was evaluated. Between April 1999 and May 2001, 26 patients (mean age 13.5 ± 12.5 years; mean body weight 33.9 ± 26.7 kg) underwent implantation of a Contegra. Conduit size was 14 mm in two patients, 16 mm in four, 18 mm in three, 20 mm in three, and 22 mm in 14. There were no in-hospital deaths. During a mean follow up of 14.7 ± 6.9 months (range: 1-26 months) there was one late death (4% mortality) and three reoperations, all non-conduit-related. Valve regurgitation was absent in 12 cases, trivial in nine and mild in four; the situation was maintained during follow up. The pressure gradient at discharge did not increase during follow up. In conclusion, the new conduit provided consistently good results. The main advantages were excellent off-the-shelf availability, large variety of available sizes (12 to 22 mm internal diameter), easy tailoring and suturing, adequate hemodynamics, no need for proximal or distal extension, and reduced cost.