The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 73, 707-711, Copyright © 1977 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Simple d-transposition of the great arteries. Results of early balloon septotomy followed by two-stage surgical correction
C Kratz, A Davignon, C Chartrand and P Stanley
The follow-up of 44 patients with simple d-transposition of the great
arteries is presented. All had balloon atrial septotomy shortly after
birth. If an operation was needed at or before one year of age, atrial
septectomy was carried out. Correction was done between the ages of 19 and
64 months. Of the 44 patients, 34 (77 per cent) are living and doing well
(27 after the Mustard procedure), 3 (7 per cent) are lost to follow-up, and
7 (16 per cent) are dead. Death was due to technical problems during
initial catheterization and balloon septotomy in 2 patients, occurred after
septectomy in one (3 per cent), and after the Mustard procedure in one (4
per cent). There was one sudden inexplicable death in a 1 1/2-month-old
patient, and 2 patients died with pulmonary vascular obstructive disease.
Because of the relatively low over-all mortality and morbidity and the low
surgical mortality rate for both palliation and correction, we believe that
two-stage surgical correction of transposition of the great arteries is
preferable to early one-stage correction in the infant.
