The Contegra Valved Bovine Conduit: A Biomaterial for the Surgical Treatment of Congenital Heart Defects

Contegra, a bovine jugular vein graft, has been widely used as a preferable biomaterial in the surgical treatment of congenital heart defects, especially as a conduit for the right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction. This article aims to make a comprehensive review on the clinical outcomes of Contegra. Reports of Contegra published since 2002 were comprehensively retrieved, collected and analyzed. There were 1718 Contegra, applied in 1705 patients. The sizes of the conduits were 8-22 mm. The patients aged from newborn to 74.5 years, prevailed by pediatrics. The primary diagnosis was congenital heart defects in all cases, with Tetralogy of Fallot, truncus arteriosus and pulmonary atresia being the first three diagnoses, representing 25.6%, 16.7%, and 13.1%, respectively. Contegra was used as a tube graft in the pulmonary position in 1635 (95.9%) patients, as a monocuspid patch in 12 (0.7%), as a graft in the position of the pulmonary valve or a monocusps in 40 (2.3%), and as an inferior vena cava-pulmonary artery conduit in the Fontan procedure in 18 (1.1%) patients, respectively. Conduit reimplantation was performed in 141 (8.3%) patients 33.8 +/- 37 (8.6-106.8) months after the initial conduit insertion. Conduit plasty was necessary in 6 (0.4%), and reintervention in 83 (4.9%) patients. Indications for conduit reimplantation included severe stenosis of the distal anastomosis, pseudoaneurysm of the proximal anastomosis and severe conduit regurgitation. As for the good performance, availability and longevity, Contegra is a biomaterial suitable for the right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction and for patch repair for ventricular septal defect, but not apt for Fontan procedure.