Early Correction of Common Atrioventricular Septal Defects: A Single-Center 20-Year Experience.

BACKGROUND: Over the past 20 years our policy has been to electively repair common atrioventricular canal defects (CAVCD) in patients between 8 and 12 weeks of age. We sought to evaluate the results of our past 20-year experience.

METHODS: From January 1992 to April 2014, 159 consecutive patients underwent CAVCD repair (133 patients had complete CAVCD and 26 patients had a transitional form of CAVCD).

RESULTS: Surgical repair was accomplished with a double-patch (n = 137 [86%]) or a modified single patch (n = 22 [14%]) technique. Median age at operation was 96 days (interquartile range [IQR], 73-128 days); 90 patients were younger than 3 months of age. There were 3 operative (1.9%) and 12 late (7.7%) deaths. Median follow-up time after repair was 8.2 years (IQR, 3.6-15 years). Twenty patients (13%) required reoperation-16 (10%) for left atrioventricular valve (LAVV) regurgitation. Reoperation on the LAVV was more frequent in patients with a dysplastic LAVV preoperatively (p = 0.01; odds ratio [OR], 4.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-13.5) and in patients who underwent closure for an absent/incomplete cleft at the time of repair (p = 0.01; OR, 5.4; 95% CI, 1.4-21). Late LAVV performance (regurgitation greater than or equal to moderate or the need for reoperation), including late deaths and patients who underwent reoperation, was significantly worse in patients older than 3 months at repair (10 of 83 patients [12%] versus 20 of 73 patients [27%]; hazard ratio [HR], 2.71; 95% CI, 1.19-6.19) and in patients with LAVV dysplasia (19 of 68 patients [28%] versus 11 of 88 patients [12%]; HR, 3; 95% CI, 1.53-8.51).

CONCLUSIONS: Individualized early repair of CAVCD is safe and beneficial, with good early and long-term results.