Mortality and Restenosis Rate of Surgical Coarctation Repair in Infancy: A Study of 191 Patients

Study Design: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study to analyze mortality and the rate of restenosis in the followup of patients after surgical repair of isolated aortic coarctation in infancy. Patients and Methods: From 1974 to 2003, 191 patients underwent surgical repair of aortic coarctation in infancy. Follow-up data of 2,432 patient-years were extracted from the clinical files of our outpatient department or from family practitioners. Results: Five patients died (total mortality 2.6%): 1 patient intraoperatively and 2 within 30 days after surgery (early mortality 1.6%). The other 2 patients died within 3 months. All deaths were contributed to patients that underwent surgery in the years up to 1981 and within the first 43 days of life. Of the surviving 186 patients, 31 had reintervention because of restenosis and another 11 patients had a noninvasive brachial-ankle systolic blood pressure gradient > 20 mm Hg, suggesting current restenosis. Risk factors for death or restenosis were a hypoplastic aortic arch and a low body length at surgery. Conclusions: Nowadays, surgical repair of coarctation can be performed in infancy with minimal risk. The restenosis rate is considerably high (23%). It is mainly caused by the size of the whole aortic arch, but can also develop during later follow-up. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel