title: [15 years of minimally invasive paediatric cardiac surgery; development and trends].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The minimally invasive approach is seldom reported in paediatric cardiac surgery. Teams gathering experience are scarce, with programs focused on simple cases. The experience is presented on a series of over 200 cases operated on in the past 15 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sub-mammary approach program was started in 2000, which was gradually extended to include more complex and younger patients. The axillary incision was adopted in 2009, following the same steps. In 2013, the mini-sternotomy incision was introduced, increasing our armamentarium. From July 2000 until December 2014, 203 patients were operated on. The sub-mammary approach was used in 102 cases, axillary in 50 patients, mini-sternotomy in 44, postero-lateral thoracotomy in 4 cases, and upper mini-sternotomy in 3.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By diagnosis, ostium secundum atrial septal defect was the most common (128), followed by sinus venosus (20), ventricular septal defect (20), ostium primum (16), and others (19). One patient was converted to sternotomy. No neurological events were detected. The mean age was 7.8/3.7 and 1.8 years, and the mean weight was 28.1/16.1 and 9.4 Kg. in the sub-mammary, axillary and mini-sternotomy approaches, respectively. The aesthetic results were excellent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on our 15 years of experience, minimally invasive surgery is safe and yields excellent cosmetic results. The gradual introduction of alternative approaches (sub-mammary, axillary, mini-sternotomy) allowed us to set-up guidelines and learning curves. The wide range of incisions enables the most appropriate one to be selected depending on age/weight and cardiac condition.
authors.affiliation: Cirugía Cardiaca Infantil, Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España. Electronic address: giljaurena@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Juan-Miguel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gil-Jaurena
authors.affiliation: Cirugía Cardiaca Infantil, Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: María-Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: González-López
authors.affiliation: Cirugía Cardiaca Infantil, Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pérez-Caballero
authors.affiliation: Cirugía Cardiaca Infantil, Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pita
authors.affiliation: Cirugía Cardiaca Infantil, Hospital Carlos Haya Málaga, Málaga, España.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.affiliation: Cirugía Cardiaca Infantil, Hospital Valle de Hebrón, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Miró
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Atrial septal defect; Cardiopatías congénitas; Cardiopulmonary bypass; Circulación extracorpórea; Cirugía; Comunicación interauricular; Comunicación interventricular; Congenital heart disease; Defectos cardiacos congénitos; Heart defects, congenital; Miniinvasiva; Minimally invasive; Surgery; Ventricular septal defect