Operative valvuloplasty in 283 children under the age of 6

Objective To review the results of operative valvuloplasty in preschool children.Methods Two hundred and eighty three preschool children between the age of 2 months and 6 years (mean = 3.05 years) with weight between 3.1 kg to 21 kg (mean=11.8 kg) underwent valvuloplasty under cardiopulmonary bypass between January 1990 and April 1998. Nine patients had isolated valvular lesions [(mitral incompetence (MI)=7, aortic incompetence (AI)=1, tricuspid incompetence (TI)=1)]. The remaining 274 patients had multiple valvular disease and other pathologies (MI=158, TI=26, AI=11, MI+TI=12). The choice of valvuloplasty depended on the anatomical variation of the lesions and included leaflet resection and repair, annulus remodelling, choral shortening, transferral etc. Results There were 8 early deaths (2.8%) including three from heart failure, two from severe sepsis, two from pulmonary hypertension and one from coma. No late death was encountered in the 38 months follow up (range=2～90 months).Conclusions Conclusion: Good result is expected in operative valvuloplasty in preschool children.