Debate on congenital heart disease. Con: early total repair is not always preferable to palliative surgery in congenital heart disease.
While early one-stage repair of congenital heart lesions can now be done with low operative mortality, there are reasons to believe that sometimes a palliative procedure, followed later by complete repair, has some advantages. Some of the drawbacks to early repair such as presumably be abolished as better valves are produced, and better understanding of cardiopulmonary bypass may reduce operative myocardial damage. However, problems related to the very small size of some outflow tracts and pulmonary arteries may not be so easily overcome.
D000367:Age Factors; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality; D012306:Risk