Thanks, Lyn. I was able to follow the link to the site you recommended. It was great EXCEPT that even with a search of the site there were no results for double outlet LEFT ventricle, it's so rare. I love the last sentence of your post, though. Thanks for the encouragement.
As a side note, after looking through all those different anomalies that can occur in the heart it's truly amazing that so many are "normal!" We tend to just take it for granted that everything's OK inside us.
When Justin was a baby and I was walking around CHOP and beside the entire heart floor, I saw so many other congenital problems I was amazed to at how it really is a miracle the vast majority of babies are completely healthy.
From what i've been reading,like
http://www.springerlink.com/content/k57275645t2324x4/fulltext.pdf?page=1 only a very small % of the double outlet ventricles are left but it seems that depending on the other CHDs the basic surgeries are the same (usually a fontan or Rastelli) so that should give you a little more hope to know many kids do very well with those surgeries
From the link above (which s not a full article, just the free part)
Opinion statement
Double-outlet left ventricle (DOLV) is a rare congenital cardiac malformation in
which both great arteries originate entirely or predominantly from the morphologic
left ventricle. DOLV occurs most commonly in the form of atrial situs solitus with
atrioventricular (AV) concordance. Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is most commonly
subaortic, and 90% of these patients have associated pulmonary stenosis. In most
cases, there is a right anterior position of the aorta relative to the pulmonary artery.
Most patients with DOLV will have pulmonary outfl ow obstruction and present soon
after birth with cyanosis. DOLV with two well-developed ventricles is conventionally
treated surgically by VSD closure, closure of the native left ventricle–to–pulmonary
outfl ow, and placement of a right ventricle–to–pulmonary artery extracardiac
conduit. However, pulmonary root translocation may be used as an alternative to
bi ventricular repair of DOLV. Patients with DOLV and functionally single-ventricle or
AV valve atresia will require a Fontan procedure.
The 1st surgery, involing the conduit is either a Rastelli or modified Rastelli (which Justin has and he turned 22 April 12th )