Surgery in the Newborn for Congenital Cardiovascular Lesions

Abstract

The highest mortality from congenital cardiovascular anomalies occurs during infancy, and 60 per cent of such patients die during the first year of life, usually because of anoxemia or pulmonary congestion from cardiac failure. Surgical treatment provides palliation or complete cure in many such patients. In a series of 400 consecutive operations there were 288 survivors (72 per cent). The commonest lesions (332 patients) were patent ductus arteriosus, tetralogy of Fallot, complete transposition of the great vessels, ventricular septal defect, coarctation of the aorta, tricuspid atresia, and total anomaly of pulmonary venous drainage. During the same period of this study 154 autopsies were performed on patients with congenital cardiovascular anomalies of which theoretically 70 could have been treated surgically. The authors stress the need for an aggressive diagnostic and therapeutic effort in infants with cardiovascular anomalies.