Surgical management of muscular trabecular ventricular septal defects

Toshihide Asou1

  • 1Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kanagawa Children's Medical Center, 2-138-4 Mutsukawa, Minami-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 232-8555, Japan. tasou@kcmc.jp

Insights

Muscular trabecular ventricular septal defects (VSDs) remain challenging to close surgically, leading to higher complication rates. This review details VSD anatomy and surgical techniques to improve outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Cardiology
  • Congenital Heart Disease Surgery

Background:

  • Muscular trabecular ventricular septal defects (VSDs) present significant surgical challenges despite advances in pediatric cardiac care.
  • Difficulty in visualizing defect edges and achieving complete closure, especially in apical or "Swiss cheese" VSDs, leads to higher morbidity and mortality.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe the anatomical features and classification of muscular trabecular VSDs.
  • To review current surgical techniques for managing these complex VSDs and their outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Anatomical description of muscular trabecular VSDs.
  • Review of surgical closure techniques and their reported outcomes.
  • Classification of VSD types based on anatomical characteristics.

Main Results:

  • Muscular trabeculations complicate the accurate assessment and closure of VSDs, particularly trabecular and "Swiss cheese" types.
  • Current surgical techniques for trabecular VSDs are associated with significant residual shunts, reoperations, and left ventricular dysfunction.

Conclusions:

  • Secure and complete closure of muscular trabecular VSDs remains a therapeutic challenge in pediatric cardiac surgery.
  • Further refinement of surgical techniques and anatomical understanding is needed to reduce complications associated with these defects.

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