Abstract: Objective To summarize the clinical experiences of resection with patch aortoplasty for infant coarctation of the aorta combined with aortic arch hypoplasia. Methods Between May 2007 and December 2009, 49 patients including 30 males and 19 females with coarctation with hypoplastic aortic arch underwent coarctation resection and patch aortoplasty in Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University. The age of the patients ranged from 23 days to 3 years and 1 month with thirtyfour patients under 6 months, ten between 6 months and 1 year old, and five more than 1 year old. The surgery under deep hypothermia cardiopulmonary bypass with selective cerebral perfusion were performed in 31 cases and circulation arrest in 15 cases; under moderate hypothermia cardiopulmonary bypass in 3 cases. Pericardia patch was used in 31 cases, pulmonary autograft patch in 14 cases and xenograft pericardia patch in 4 cases. The associated intracardiac anomalies were repaired in the same stage. Results One case died from circulation failure during the perioperative period. The operative mortality was 204% (1/49). Low cardiac output syndrome and renal failure respectively occurred in 5 cases and 1 case who were cured afterwards by correspondent treatments. No residual obstruction was detected by echocardiography after the operation. Followup was carried out in fortyeight cases for a minimum of 4 months and a maximum of 3 years. Echocardiographic examination showed that the gradient through the aortic arch was more than 40 mm Hg and computed tomography showed recoarctation in 1 case who underwent reoperation eight months after the operation; the gradient was more than 20 mm Hg in 2 cases who were under continuous observation; all the rest cases had a fine aortic arch morphology and for these patients, the blood velocity at descending aortic arch was not obviously changed during the followup period compared with that right after operation, the computed tomography showed a normal aortic arch geometry. Left bronchus compression was relieved obviously or totally disappeared in patients who suffered from left bronchus stenosis before the operation without any aortic aneurysm detected. Conclusion Coarctation resection with patch aortoplasty is considered as an optimal surgical method for management of infant coarctation with hypoplastic aortic arch.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of patch aortoplasty and extended side-to-end anastomosis for the treatment of coarctation of the aorta (CoA) and hypoplastic aortic arch, and provide a more reasonable surgical choice. MethodsClinical data of 45 patients who underwent surgical correction for CoA and hypoplastic aortic arch in Beijing Anzhen Hospital from June 2008 to June 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. According to different surgical strategies for aortic arch hypoplasia, all the 45 patients were divided into 2 groups. In group I, there were 26 patients including 15 males and 11 females with their age of 0.5-6.8 (0.9±2.5) years and body weight of 5.0-20.3 (9.5±7.3) kg, who received patch aortoplasty and whose preoperative pressure gradient between right upper and lower limbs was 38.3±15.6 mm Hg. In groupⅡ, there were 19 patients including 14 males and 5 females with their age of 0.6-7.5 (1.0±2.7) years and body weight of 5.5-21.5 (10.2±6.6) kg, who received extended side-to-end anastomosis and whose preoperative pressure gradient between right upper and lower limbs was 40.7±16.1 mm Hg. Postoperative changes of pressure gradient between right upper and lower limbs of the 2 groups were examined and compared with preoperative values. ResultsTwo patients died postoperatively (4.4%) including 1 patient with low cardiac output syndrome and the other patient with severe lung infection. None of the patients in either group had renal failure or neurological complications. Postoperatively, there were 28 patients whose systolic blood pressure (SBP) of lower extremities was 10-20 mm Hg higher than that of upper extremities, 13 patients whose SBP gradient between upper and limbs was less than 10 mm Hg, and 4 patients whose upper limb SBP was 20 mm Hg higher than lower limb SBP. Postoperative average pressure gradient of right upper and lower extremities was 3.2±13.5 mm Hg and significantly lower than preoperative value (P < 0.05). Postoperative pressure gradient of upper and lower extremities was significantly lower than preoperative value in both groups (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in preoperative and postoperative changes of pressure gradient of upper and lower extremities between the 2 groups (P > 0.05). Thirty-eighty patients (88.4%) were followed up from 3 months to 5 years. During follow-up, there was 1 patient whose blood flow velocity of the descending aorta was increasingly accelerated. Pressure gradient across the aortic arch was larger than 40 mm Hg. Computer tomography showed aortic arch restenosis. This patient received reoperation 8 months after the first discharge. Three patients whose aortic pressure gradient was larger than 20 mm Hg were still followed up. Aortic arch pressure gradient was less than 20 mm Hg in all the other patients. ConclusionBoth patch aortoplasty and extended sideto-end anastomosis are ideal surgical methods for the treatment of CoA and hypoplastic aortic arch. Appropriate surgical method should be chosen according to individual conditions of pediatric patients.