densely calcified polytetrafluoroethylene right ventricular out flow tract patch explanted after 33 years

Right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction following intracardiac repair of tetralogy of Fallot often requires placement of a patch. The choice of the patch material is variable and depends upon surgeon preference, availability and costs of the patch material. Available patch materials for the purpose are autologous pericardium (fresh unfixed or fixed in glutaryldehyde), PolyTetraFluoroEthylene (PTFE), homograft patches, bovine pericardium and recently the patches fashioned out of porcine intestinal mucosa or patched of adapted collagen cardiovascular scaffold. Despite the claimed advantages of each of these, long-term concerns include calcification, aneurysmal dilatation and development of dense adhesions to the surrounding tissues that make a re-operation difficult and hazardous. The image presented in this report shows a densely-calcified PTFE patch that was explanted on re-operation, 33 years after intracardiac repair of TOF.