Arterial Switch Operation in Older Infants With Severe Pulmonary Hypertension / 中国医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To introduce experience of switch operation applied to treat the transposition of the great arteries(TGA) and Taussing-Bing deformity.Methods Between June,2000 and Aug,2002, 27 consecutive patients underwent an arterial switch operation at our institution. The patients including TGA with intact ventricular septum in 5, TGA with ventricular septal defect in 18, Taussing-Bing deformity in 3, and corrected TGA in 1.Age ranged from 3 days to 6 years at operation (mean, 10 1?5 7 months), and the mean body weight was 6 3?2 81kg. Twenty patients were older than age 1 month. Ninteen patients had pre-operative catheterization. Seventy-four percents had severe pulmonary hypertention. Two patients had left ventricular outlet stenosis. Coronary type A distribution was recognized in 23 cases,type D in 4, and one of them had the origin of the left descending artery tunneled in the aortic wall. The great arteries were side by side in 3 cases. One patient underwent balloon atrial septostomy and another one underwent pulmonary banding and systemic to pulmonary shunt preoperatively. The great arteries were transected above the valvular commisures,the coronary ostia with all the adjacent sinus of Valsalva were excised and re-implanted to the proximal neo-aorta,then aortic anastomosis was carried out.The proximal neo-pulmonary trunk was reconstructed with a large autologous native pericardium as a posterior patch.The pulmonary anastomosis was completed,after the aortic cross clamp was released.The VSDs were repaired through the atrium or proximal aorta with Dacron patches.Results The hospital mortality was 7 4% (2 cases), and no death cases were directly related to any coronary artery problem. One perioperative death was a 5 day-old neonate with TGA and an intact septum who had refractory hypotension, hypoxemia, and acidosis preoperatively who underwent an emergency operation. The patient had a refractory low cardiac output syndrome postoperatively, and died after 20 hours. Another patient had a chylothorax and died of allergy from iodophor 22 days postoperation. The pulmonary pressure had gone down significantly in 20 patients who had severe pulmonary hypertension preoperatively (the mean pressure 46.7mmHg preoperation, and 31.3mmHg postoperation). Follow-up of 1 to 26 months was achieved in all survivors, with no late complications and death. Conclusions The arterial switch procedure for age over 1 month infants with severe pulmonary hypertention still has satisfactory efficacy.