[Aortic coarctation in the neonatal period. Study of 137 cases]

The clinical records of 137 newborns, diagnosed by cardiac catheterization of aortic coarctation, have been reviewed. According to the presence of associations, three different groups have been established. Group A: isolated coarctation or coarctation associated with patient ductus arteriosus (40 cases); Group B: coarctation associated with ventricular septal defect or atrial septal defect (37 cases); Group C: coarctation associated with other complex congenital cardiac lesions (60 cases). The aortic coarctation has been surgically repaired in 73 cases, by using the following techniques: End-to-end anastomosis in 26 patients, Waldhausen repair in 43 and other procedures in the remaining 4 cases. For the surgically treated patients the survival has been: 88% in group A, 90% in group B and 48% in group C. In non-operated patients the survival has been: 21%, 6% and 14%, respectively.