Tratamento cirúrgico da coarctação da aorta: experiência de três décadas

Objective: To make a 30-year review of the immediate results of coarctation of the aorta (CoAo) operation, between 1974 and 2004. All the patients under went CoAo whether in isolation or associated with other congenital defects. Methods: The following data was investigated: age at the time of surger y , gender , associated lesions, and type of surgical technique, and immediate surgical outcome, particularly focusing the presence of systemic arterial hypertension. Results: One hundred and four patients underwent CoAo. Of the 104 enrolled patients, 75 (72%) were pediatric patients and 29 (28%) adults patients. In the pediatric group, 23 (22%) were considered neonates, 17 (16%) infants, and 35 (34%) children. The associated defects were present in 66 (63.5%) patients, 54 (51.9%) in the pediatric group and 12 (1 1.3%) in the adult gr oup. Seven (6.7%) deaths wer e observed in the immediate postoperative period. Among the various surgical techniques employed, aortoplasty was used in 80 patients (76.9%); end-to-end anastomosis in 15 (14.4%); T eles technique in seven (6.7%), W aldhausen technique in one (1%), and it was not possible to identify the technique in one patient (1%). Conclusions: Despite the limitations of the pr esent study , it may be noted that the results were good with the corrective surgery being performed safely and with a low mortality rate. Medium- and long-term follow-up was impaired by the well-known structural deficiencies in Brazil.