Surgical correction in infancy to reduce mortality in transposition of the great arteries.
The mortality for infants with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) prior to the introduction of medical and surgical septostomy was over 80% by 6 months of age. The mortality has fallen recently, due to balloon atrial septostomy (BAS), but still exceeds 25% by 6 months of age in major centers. The cumulative mortality rises to 40% by 1 year of age with or without additional surgical atrial septectomy. In our center, 12 patients with an average age of 3 months were operated on for interatrial baffle correction of their TGA under surface-induced deep hypothermia. BAS had been done preliminarily in those patients without an adequate atrial communication. Ten of these 12 patients (83%) survived. These patients have been followed up from one month to eight years with an average follow-up of over four years. Surgical correction during infancy offers a better survival rate for infants with TGA than does medical management, with or without palliative surgery.
D004374:Ductus Arteriosus, Patent / Q000601:surgery; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007423:Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumping; D008722:Methods; D014188:Transposition of Great Vessels / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*