[Circulation support in left thoracotomy for descending thoracic aorta diseases in pediatric patients]

Complications of surgery of the descending thoracic aorta could include neurological problems such as paraparesis and paraplegia. Intestinal ischemia and acute renal failure could occur, too. During the cross-clamping time, the perfusion of the distal aorta by means of extracorporeal circulatory assistance can be useful to protect the spinal cord and the splanchnic organs and to reduce the incidence of these untoward events. The aim of this study was to verify the efficacy and suitability of this type of circulatory assistance in a pediatric age group.

From January 1996 to March 2000, in the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department of the Gaslini Institute (Genoa, Italy), 6 patients (mean age 39 months, mean weight 14.4 kg) were treated using extracorporeal circulatory assistance through the left thoracotomy. Indications for surgery included the removal of a migrated device previously inserted in order to close a patent ductus arteriosus in 1 patient, recurrent coarctation in 2 patients, and native coarctation with a poor collateral circulation in 3 patients.

The early and late mortality rates as well as the morbidity rates (both neurological and splanchnic) were nil.

Extracorporeal circulatory assistance can be helpful in pediatric patients and it can prevent neurological and renal injuries in cases of a) coarctation of the aorta with a poor collateral circulation and low distal pressure (< 40 mmHg during aortic occlusion); b) recoarctation with complex anatomy; c) other pathologies requiring prolonged descending thoracic aorta cross-clamping.