[Total anomalous pulmonary venous return in children: importance of echocardiographic diagnosis and early surgery].

OBJECTIVE: We studied patients who underwent surgical repair for total anomalous pulmonary venous return at our hospital. We report the importance of diagnosis by echocardiographic imaging before surgical treatment.

METHODS: Within the period of 1990-1999, fourteen patients underwent surgical repair of this cardiopathy in our hospital. The type of anomalous drainage was supracardiac in 6 patients, infracardiac in 4, to the coronary sinus in 1, and mixed-type in 3 patients. Eleven cases were diagnosed with an echo-Doppler study, the findings being confirmed intraoperatively.

RESULTS: There were 2 early deaths: one occurred in the operating room in a patient with a small left ventricle, and the second one was 35 days postoperatively as a result of a septic complication. Early in the postoperative period our primary goal has steadily been the control and treatment of pulmonary hypertension. After a mean follow-up time of 50 months, only 1 patient needed to be reoperated on and the remainder are symptomless.

CONCLUSIONS: That sufficient diagnostic data on total anomalous pulmonary venous return can reliably be obtained by ultrasound scanning so that surgery can be promptly undertaken, and that its surgical risk is currently low and mid-term post-repair outcome is fairly good.