title: Survival and quality of life after aortic coarctation repair.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Coarctation of the aorta is the fifth most common congenital heart disease in clinical practice. Surgical repair has been performed in infants with high survival; still patients maintain a high risk of morbidity and mortality, moreover in the presence of associated cardiac lesions. Thus, it is imperative a medical follow-up of these patients in order to understand the impact of the disease in their quality of life.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To report the surgical results, long term survival, complications and present health related quality of life of patients submitted to surgical repair of aortic coarctation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review of all patients younger than 1 year old submitted to surgery, between 1998 and 2005, at Centro Hospitalar São João. A survey was answered by the patients to address present quality of life.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty patients were available for study. Twenty patients (40,0%) were neonates at the time of surgery and 31 (62%) presented to urgent repair. Isolated coarctation was noticed in 25 patients (50,0%) and the most common surgical technique was resection and end-to-end anastomosis, in 64,0%. Early mortality was 4,0% and zero in patients with isolated coarctation. Actuarial survival rates were 90,0%, 88,0% and 88,0% at 5, 10 and 17 years of follow-up, respectively. Complex coarctation was associated with decreased survival (p = 0,007). Patients reported in questionnaires similar results to healthy population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgical repair of aortic coarctation is a relatively safe surgery, however patients maintain risks of arterial hypertension, re-coarctation and mortality at long term. Nevertheless, patients report a quality of life that is no different than healthy population.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Cirurgia Cardiotorácica do Hospital de S. João e Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Santos Silva
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Casanova