Anesthesia and perioperative complications of correcting transposition of the great arteries using the Jatene technique

: We present a retrospective morbi-mortality study in 12 patients undergoing Jatene's arterial repair for transposition of the great vessels between 1988 and 1992. Half of the patients were boys ranging in age from 4 days to 35 months. In 34% heart failure was grade III, while in 65.6% it was grade IV (NYHA). Anesthetic induction was with ketamine in 11 patients and with halothane in 1. Maintenance was with pancuronium and fentanyl supplemented with N2O in 2 and with isoflurane in 1. The overall intra- and perioperative death rate was 16.6%. Nine cases have undergone surgical repair since 1988 with no mortality. We conclude that Jatene's technique is the best alternative for repair of transposition of the great vessels when there is no hypoplasia of the right cavity.