The palliative arterial switch procedure for single ventricles: are these patients suitable Fontan candidates?
The palliative switch procedure appears a reasonable surgical option for patients with functional single-ventricle lesions, transposition of the great vessels, and systemic outflow tract obstruction. Patients who have undergone a palliative switch procedure are suitable candidates for completion of palliation with the Fontan procedure.
We conclude that HA is a modulator of metamorphic competence in S. purpuratus development and hypothesize that HA may have played an important role in the evolution of settlement strategies in echinoids. Our findings provide novel insights into the evolution of HA signalling and its function in one of the most important and widespread life history transitions in the animal kingdom--metamorphosis.