African Annals of
Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF THORACIC AND CARDIO-VASCULAR SURGEONS
  • Abbreviation: Afr. Ann. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1994-7461
  • DOI: 10.5897/AATCVS
  • Start Year: 2005
  • Published Articles: 74

Full Length Research Paper

The magnitude of systemic arterial oxygen saturation improvement achievable by a Blalock-Taussig-Thomas shunt: A systematic review

Mark N. Awori
  • Mark N. Awori
  • Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 19676-00202, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Jonathan A. Awori
  • Jonathan A. Awori
  • Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 19676-00202, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Gilbert Langat
  • Gilbert Langat
  • Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 19676-00202, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Kimberly Kipkoech
  • Kimberly Kipkoech
  • Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 19676-00202, Nairobi, Kenya.
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  •  Received: 30 September 2023
  •  Accepted: 13 February 2024
  •  Published: 29 February 2024

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the magnitude of systemic arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) improvement caused by a Blalock-Taussig-Thomas shunt (BTTS). PUBMED (PM) and Google Scholar (GS) were searched between 1st January, 1966 and 31st March, 2023. Search terms included: Blalock, Taussig, shunt, pulmonary artery and Tetralogy of Fallot. Only full-text papers that measured pre-BTTS and post-BTTS systemic arterial oxygen saturation were included. Of 153 records retrieved, 12 full-text articles (427 patients) were included in this review. The mean pre-BTTS and post-BTTS SaO2 were 69.9 and 86.9%, respectively. Nine out of 12 studies representing 371 patients (86.8%) had a post-BTTS increase in SaO2 of 20% or less. Available evidence suggests that a BTTS is unlikely to increase the SaO2 by more than 20% in almost 90% of patients. This finding may have important implications for the continued use of BTTS to raise the SaO2 in patients with severe cyanosis.

Key words: Blalock, Taussig, Thomas, arterial, oxygen, saturation.

Copyright © 2025 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.

This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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