27 december 2019
Leiden-Delft-Groningen - 3D model Tricuspid atresia after Bilateral Fontan Procedure - numbered English labels
This model shows atresia of the tricuspid valve. The tricuspid valve, usually situated between the right atrium and the right ventricle, was not constructed. Because of this, there is a decreased blood flow, which has resulted in the suboptimal development of the right ventricle. Hence the small (hypoplastic) right ventricle. Since the right ventricle cannot pump the blood into the lungs, the blood has to get there in a different way. This is accomplished by surgery: the Fontan procedure. The surgeon attaches all vessels that usually go to the right atrium directly to the lungs. Those vessels contain oxygen-poor blood from the upper part of the body (Superior Vena Cava) and the lower part of the body (Inferior Vena Cava) and are attached directly to the lungs via a tunnel, the Fontan tunnel. Oxygen is bound to the blood cells in the lungs. This oxygen-rich blood then enters the left atrium, the right ventricle and is pumped by the left ventricle into the body. A 3D model in a series of heart models that were made in collaboration between cardiologists, anatomists, medical illustrators and technical experts of the Universities of Groningen, Leiden and Delft, the Netherlands.
Anna Sieben, Monique R.M. Jongbloed, Ludo de Goeje, Bonnie Schaafsma, Bert J. Wisse