ABSTRACT

The construction of an anastomosis between the superior vena cava (SVC) and the pulmonary artery (PA) is now well established in the management of the functional single ventricle either as a preliminary procedure in staged Fontan palliation or as an alternative procedure to the Fontan, occasionally as part of a one-and-a-half ventricle reconstruction.

Although Carlon in Italy first reported an experimental method for creating an anastomosis between the SVC and the right PA in 1951, the shunt bears the name of Glenn, whose pioneering research in right heart bypass in dogs paved the way for widespread clinical application of a direct end-to-end SVC to right atrium connection. In the Soviet Union, Meshalkin reported the first successful clinical use of the shunt in 24 children with 21 survivors in 1956. Glenn first performed the shunt on a 7-year-old boy with right ventricular hypoplasia and pulmonary stenosis in 1958.