Objective To compare the postoperative outcomes of patients with the diagnostic univentricular heart undergoing lateral tunnel（LT） operation with extracardiac conduit（EC） operation.Methods From June 1996 to July 2007

114 consecutive patients with a single ventricle underwent total cavopulmonary connection（TCPC） in Children’s Heart Center

University Hospital Giessen and Marburg GmbH

Germany.A LT was performed in 19（16.7%） patients

and an EC in 95（83.3%） patients.The mean age of EC group was 50.8±31.6（ranging from 22 to 212） months

and that of LT group was 61.5±41.2（ranging from 30 to 168） months.Early and midterm outcomes of two groups were analyzed.Results One died in LT group（5.3%） and three in EC group（3.2%）.The overall mortality was 3.5%.There was no significant difference in mortality between EC and LT groups（P>0.05）.The postoperative pulmonary arterial pressure

oxygen saturation

and effusion time of two groups had no significant difference（all P>0.05）.No significant difference in the occurrences of complications（arrhythmias

enteropathy

and thrombosis） was found between two groups after operation（P>0.05）.Conclusions There seems no difference between LT and EC in the clinical results in the early and middle postoperative stage.Glenn anastomosis followed by an EC seems to have some advantages.