Increasing Use of the Right Ventricle-to-Pulmonary Artery Shunt for Stage 1 Palliation.

Background: Stage 1 palliation of hypoplastic left heart syndrome entails use of the Norwood operation with a modified Blalock-Taussig shunt or a right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery shunt, or the hybrid procedure. Use trends and factors influencing palliation selection remain unclear. We aimed to evaluate these questions and to compare outcomes between types of stage 1 palliation.