Sutureless Technique for Primary Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection Repair: An Updated Meta-Analysis

An updated meta-analysis was performed to explore the clinical outcomes following the sutureless repair in patients with total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC) and compare outcomes between the sutureless technique and conventional surgery.

A systematic search of PubMed, Ovid-Embase, and Cochrane Library (CENTRAL) for relevant published studies that reported the clinical outcomes of the sutureless technique in children with TAPVC was performed in February 2022. The publication language was restricted to English.

Eleven studies were included involving 771 patients in total. Following the sutureless technique, the incidences of postoperative pulmonary venous obstruction (PVO) and reoperations due to PVO were 3.3% [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.3-5.3%] and 1.8% (95% CI, 0.3-3.3%), respectively. The early and late mortality rates were 3.2% (95% CI, 1.0-5.3%) and 2.5% (95% CI, 0.7-4.3%), respectively. Compared with conventional surgery, the sutureless technique significantly reduced the incidences of postoperative PVO [odds ratio (OR), 0.16; 95% CI, 0.08-0.33; P < 0.00001], reoperations due to PVO (OR, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.10-0.63; P = 0.003), and early mortality (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.21-0.79; P = 0.008). However, no significant difference was found between conventional surgery and the sutureless technique concerning late mortality (OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.13-3.00; P = 0.58).

The sutureless technique is superior to conventional surgery for the primary repair of TAPVC concerning postoperative PVO, reoperations due to PVO, and early mortality. However, the level of evidence is of low quality. Prospective cohort studies or randomized control trials (RCTs) should be performed to evaluate the effectiveness of sutureless techniques for primary TAPVC repair.