Surgical Treatment of Coarctation of the Aorta in the First Year of Life. Immediate and Late Results in 35 Patients

Summary

Between February 1974 and September 1981, 35 consecutive infants younger than 12 months underwent repair of coarctation of the aorta. The mean age was 57 days and 24 were younger than 60 days. The indications for operation were congestive heart failure, metabolic acidosis and severe systemic hypertension. Only 3 cases had isolated coarctation, whereas the remaining 32 had associated anomalies. The first 4 patients were submitted to primary repair; after this, patch aortoplasty was utilized in 14 infants and in the remaining 17 patients the aortoplasty using the left subclavian artery was performed. The hospital mortality rate was 11.4% (4 cases) and there were 2 late deaths (5.7%). Follow-up over a 7-year period shows no clinical or hemodynamic evidence of recoarctation in any of the survivors.

Key words

Infant coarctation - Surgical treatment