Early Primary Surgical Treatment on Tetralogy of Fallot in 77 Infants

Objective To explore the experience of early primary surgical treatment on tetralogy of fallot(TOF) in infants.Methods Seventy-seven TOF cases were received in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery from Jan.2002 to Feb.2010 with 46 male and 31 female,ages ranging from 2 months to 12 months.The mean age was(9.06±2.72) months.The patients′ weight ranged from 3.5-10.0 kg,(5.98±0.96) kg on average.Of all the patients,28 cases were under 6 months old and 49 cases aged from 7 to 12 months.All the patients were given radical TOF operation,10 cases of whom were given sub-emergency surgery because of preoperative hypoxia.Perioperative management,operative mortality,complications and follow-up findings different age groups were compared and analyzed.Results Of the 77 cases,3 cases died of low cardiac output syndrome.The rest were cured.Compared with patients with TOF aged 7-12 months old,patients with TOF under 6 months developed a higher rate of postoperative low cardiac output syndrome(χ2=6.45,P0.05) and had higher frequency of applying adrenalin and calcium gluconate(χ2=13.67,19.96,Pa0.05),longer mechanical ventilation,longer time of ICU stay and hospita-lization(t=2.254,2.297,2.631,Pa0.05).Postoperative follow-up lasted from 6 months to 5 years,and no late death was reported and all the patients developed well.Conclusions Earlier primary repair can be performed safely in patients with TOF under 6 months old and it had a better short-term and long-term curative rate.