[Pregnancy after Mustard operation for transposition of the great arteries]

Previously, the Mustard operation was the preferred surgical technique in patients with transposition of the great arteries. After this procedure the anatomical right ventricle remains the systemic ventricle, which entails long-term complications, especially heart failure. The Mustard-operated patients are now adults, and pregnancy has become an important issue. We assessed pregnancy and delivery data in a complete cohort of female patients who had previously undergone a Mustard procedure at Aarhus Hospital in the 1971-1991 period. The women giving birth were compared with those who did not.

Information on diagnosis, procedure, functional status, pregnancy, delivery and congenital heart disease in the off-spring were found in registers (The National Register of Health, The National Birth Register) and in medical records. Questionnaires were mailed to the 16 surviving women over 15 years of age.

Four women gave birth to nine children. Two women temporally had heart symptoms during pregnancy and delivery, but this caused no objective changes. The women who had children were older than those who did not. None of the children had congenital heart disease nor were they small for their gestational age.

Pregnancy and delivery are well-tolerated in the vast majority of Mustard-operated women with no deterioration in functional class during or after pregnancy and delivery.