Safety of Sildenafil Use in Patients with BT Shunt Dependent Congenital Heart Disease

Purpose The Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunt is a surgical procedure that establishes a permanent source of pulmonary or systemic blood flow in children with severely obstructed or hypoplastic vessels. Post-operatively, one of the major challenges for the practitioner is to maintain a balanced pulmonary to systemic blood flow ratio. For those patients with persistently low oxygen saturations or concern for pulmonary hypertension, some practitioners empirically trial selective phosphodiesterase inhibitors in an attempt to increase pulmonary blood flow. The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the patient characteristics, indication, side …