Cardiac surgery of premature and low birthweight newborns: Is a change of fate possible?

Tijen Alkan-Bozkaya, Halil Türkoǧlu, Atif Akçevin, Tufan Paker, Hilda Özkan-Çerçi, Aygün Dindar, Cihangir Ersoy, Vedat Bayer, Demet Aşkin, Akif Ündar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Low birthweight (LBW) continues to be a high-risk factor in surgery for congenital heart disease. This risk is particularly very high in very low birthweight infants under 1500 g and extremely LBW infants under 1000 g. From January 2005 to December 2008, 33 consecutive LBW neonates underwent cardiac surgery in our clinic in keeping with the criteria for choice of surgery. Their weight range was between 800 and 1900 g. Nine of them were under 1000 g. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was used in 17 patients (39.5%) and pulsatile perfusion mode was applied to patients in the CPB group. The same surgical team operated to achieve palliation (8 patients, 24.2%) or full repair (25 patients, 75.8%). Median gestational age was 36 weeks with 12 (36.4%) premature babies (≤37 weeks). Median age at operation was 5 days. Pathologies were single ventricle (n = 3), pulmonary atresia-ventricular septal defect (n = 3), aortic coarctation (n = 10), aorticopulmonary window and interrupted aortic arch combination (n = 6), patent arterial duct (n = 11), critical aortic stenosis (n = 8), and tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia (n = 2). One infant had VATER syndrome. Selective cerebral perfusion technique was used in complex arch pathologies for cerebral protection. Median follow-up was 14 months. There were four early postoperative deaths. None of the cases showed a need for early reoperation. The acceptable early- and midterm mortality rates in this group suggest that these operations can be successfully performed. There is a need for further multicenter studies to evaluate these high-risk groups.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)891-897
Number of pages7
JournalArtificial organs
Volume34
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Bioengineering
  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Biomaterials
  • Biomedical Engineering

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