Perventricular closure of pulmonary stump in a 16-kg child

Blind pouch formation of the pulmonary artery (PA) in patients having undergone a Fontan operation can present a serious risk for thromboembolic events. Either primary or secondary closure of this stump is necessary to reduce this risk. Unfortunately, secondary closure is oftentimes difficult due to the size and anatomy of the presenting patient. We describe the insertion of a muscular ventricular septal defect (VSD) device via a perventricular approach for successful closure of a pulmonary stump in a 3-year old, 16-kg child. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a perventricular approach for successful closure of a PA stump. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.