[Surgical repair of atrial septal defect in 1011 consecutive patients]

The immediate postoperative complications of 1011 consecutive patients undergoing surgical repair of atrial septal defects between 1980 and 1998 at Marie Lannelongue Hospital were analysedwith the ultimate objective of comparing their incidence with that of percutaneous closure. Five patients died (0.49%) of low cardiac output (N=3), pulmonary oedema (N=1) or pulmonary hypertension (N=1). A total of 356 patients (35.2%) had 448 postoperative complications. There were 77% minor and 23% major complications. The minor complications included arrhythmias and conduction defects (N=130), respiratory complications (N=90) and pericardial effusions (N=64). The main major complications were cardiac failure (N=27), cardiac tamponade (N=13), neurological complications (N=8) and reoperation (N=28). Of the survivors, 95.6% of patients were discharged from hospital with no residual problem and 41 (4.4%) had sequellae: arrhythmias (N=29, including one pacemaker implantation), neurological complications (N=4), acquired mitral regurgitation (N=2), phrenic nerve paralysis (N=1) and minimal residual shunt (N=10). Factors correlated with surgical morbidity were age, the severity of pulmonary hypertension, the type of atrial septal defect (less morbidity with ostium secundum defects), the presence of associated malformations, the surgical approach (less morbidity with the right postero-lateral thoracic approach). This study demonstrated the incompressible risk of open heart cardiac surgery. It will form a basis for a comparative study of the two modern methods of treating atrial septal defect: surgical and percutaneous closure.