Palliation for transposition of great arteries

Background: At the University College Hospital Ibadan we have no facility for total surgical correction of transportation of the great arteries (TGA). This prospective study reviews the palliative procedures we have used in the management of TGA. Method: Patients with the diagnosis of TGA were evaluated for morphological type. The choice of palliative procedure was made in some of the patients with morphological type in mind. No fixed criteria were used for allocating patients to Blalock-Hanlon (B-H), atrial septectomy while pulmonary banding (PB) and Blalock-Taussig (B-T) shunt have definite indications. Results: Fourteen consecutive patients with TGA were palliated. The ages of these patients ranged between 3 to 11 months (6.8 ± 2.4 months), there were 8 males to 6 females (1.3:1). Six patients had B-H atrial septectomy and 2(33.3%) died within 48 hours, 4 patients had B-T shunt and there were no mortality, 4 patients had PB and 2 (50.0%) died within 72 hours. The overall operative mortality was 28.6%. All the 10 survivors had improvement of their clinical features and fall in packed cell volume during the period of follow-up, which lasted 5 to 13 months (mean 9.3 ± 1.2 months). All patients had delayed wound healing. Conclusion: Appropriate and timely palliative surgery has a place in patients with TGA as an interim care. Key Words: Palliative surgery, transposition, great arteries Nigerian Journal of Surgical Research Vol.5(1&2) 2003: 129-13

Coarctation of the Aorta: Experience at the University College Hospital, Ibadan

Between May 1977 and June 1998, 697 patients with congenital heart diseases were admitted to the cardiothoracic surgical unit (CTSU) at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. Eighteen (2.6 per cent) of the patients with 19 coarctations of the aorta (CoA) were retrospectively studied. The age range of all the patients with CoA was 18 days to 30 years (mean 7.2±8.2 years), but for the 15 patients who underwent surgery, it was one month to 30 years (mean 8.6±8.3 years). Three patients died preoperatively of congenital cardiac anomalies associated with infantile CoA. There were 16 thoracic and two abdominal CoA, while one patient had recurrent CoA. Resection and end-to-end anastomosis was performed in four patients, dacron tube interposition graft in three, and dacron patch graft in four patients. Other procedures were employed in five patients. Operative mortality was 25 per cent. Operative deaths occurred in two infants with isolated CoA, a neonate who had associated pulmonary hypertension and a 17-year old who had surgery for re-coarctation. Complications of surgery included post-operative haemorrhage in two patients, intra-operative hemorrhage in one and hoarseness of the voice in four patients. Paradoxical hypertension occurred in three patients, graft occlusion and wound dehiscence occurred together in one patient and two patients had chylothorax. It is concluded that CoA is a surgically correctable congenital anomaly which is probably less frequently diagnosed locally.Nigerian Journal of Paediatrics 2002;29:27-33