Long-term follow-up of truncus arteriosus repaired in infancy: a twenty-year experience

There have been few reports of long-term follow-up after truncus arteriosus repair in infancy.

A retrospective review was performed to assess long-term outcomes among 165 patients who survived the initial hospital stay after complete repair of truncus arteriosus since 1975. The median age at truncus repair over this 20-year experience was 3.5 months (range 2 days to 36 years), and 81% of patients were less than 1 year of age. Previous pulmonary artery banding had been performed in 15 patients, and two patients had undergone prior repair of interrupted aortic arch. Significant procedures performed along with truncus repair included truncal valve replacement (n = 10) or repair (n = 5) and repair of interrupted aortic arch (n = 4).

Patients were followed up for up to 20.4 years (median 10.5 years). Twenty-five patients were lost at cross-sectional follow-up, with a total of 67 patient-years of follow-up available on these patients. There have been 23 late deaths, eight of which occurred within 6 months of repair and 13 of which occurred within 1 year. Ten of the late deaths were related to reoperations. Actuarial survival among all hospital survivors was 90% at 5 years, 85% at 10 years, and 83% at 15 years and was essentially identical for infants alone. A significant independent risk factor for poorer long-term survival was truncus with moderate to severe truncal valve insufficiency before repair. During the follow-up period, 107 patients underwent 133 conduit reoperations. Median time to conduit reoperation was 5.5 years, and the only factor significantly associated with shorter time to conduit replacement was smaller conduit size at initial repair. In addition, 26 patients underwent 30 truncal valve replacements. Six patients required truncal valve replacement before any conduit-related reintervention, with two associated deaths. Actuarial freedom from truncal valve replacement among patients with no prerepair truncal valve insufficiency was 95% at 10 years. Actuarial freedom from truncal valve replacement was significantly lower among patients with truncal insufficiency before initial repair (63% at 10 years). At follow-up, all patients except three were in New York Heart Association functional class I.

Ten- to 20-year survival and functional status are excellent among infants undergoing complete repair of truncus arteriosus. Conduit replacement or revision is almost inevitably necessary in this group of patients.