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Published on: December 11, 2017
Revising ventricular septal defect residual shunts without aortic re-cross-clamping: a safe and effective surgical
Zhongming Cao1, Yunfei Chai1, Jian Liu2
1Department of Anesthesiology, Guangdong Provincial Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital/Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
Background:
The conventional approach to revising a residual shunt following ventricular septal defect (VSD) closure is to re-occlude the aorta and repair the residual shunt under cardioplegic arrest. The present study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of a new approach for revising residual shunts following VSD repair without re-occluding the aorta. This approach is known as on beating heart surgery.
Methods:
This retrospective study included 80 pediatric patients who underwent surgical closure of a simple VSD. Residual shunts larger than 2 mm were intraoperatively detected by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and these patients received immediate reintervention. Of the patients, 37 received on beating heart surgery without aortic cross-clamping (Group A) and 43 patients were operated on with aortic cross-clamping and cardioplegia (Group B).
Results:
Residual VSD closures were successfully performed in all patients. Group A had significantly shorter aortic cross-clamp times (P<0.0001), significantly shorter CPB times (P<0.01), a lower incidence of prolonged ventilation (>6 hours) (P=0.04), a lower incidence of prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stay (ICU stay >1 day) (P=0.02), and reduced in-hospital expenses (P<0.0001) compared with Group B. There was no significant difference in the incidence of recurrent residual shunts (P=0.96), prolonged postoperative hospital stay (>5 days) (P=0.24), or the incidence of perioperative complications (P=0.81) between the groups.
Conclusions:
On beating heart surgery is a safe and effective approach for the closure of residual VSDs and is significantly associated with a lower incidence of prolonged ventilation, a lower incidence of prolonged ICU stay, and reduced in-hospital expenses.
