Methodology and immediate results of selective controlled cerebral and myocardial perfusion for aortic arch obstruction in children

Highlights. Congenital heart defects in combination with aortic arch hypoplasia or coarctation of aorta are quite common in cardiac surgeon’s practice. The protection of internal organs is an important point in the treatment of these defects. Several methods have been proposed from hypothermic arrest to selective perfusion of various vascular regions. Given the variety of techniques, the effectiveness and advantages of each one are still a topic of debates. The article reflects the experience of using cerebro-myocardial perfusion in children with surgical correction of the aortic arch pathology.

Aim. To analyze the prospects of regional selective controlled cerebral and myocardial perfusion method in surgical correction of aortic arch obstruction in children.

Methods. A retrospective single-center analysis of the treatment in 29 pediatric patients was carried out and immediate results of cerebral-myocardial perfusion used in children with surgical correction of aortic arch obstruction in the period from 2016 to 2020 are presented. Median age was 6 days (1 day – 15 years old). Median weight was 3.6 kg (1.8–47 kg). 15 patients were girls, 14 patients were boys. The inclusion criteria for all the patients were cerebro-myocardial perfusion for aortic arch reconstruction.

Results.Cardiopulmonary bypass time median was 78 minutes (43–206 minutes). The average time of cerebro-myocardial perfusion was 22.4 + –6.4 min (12–35 min). The median duration of the surgery was 3.1 hours (2.25–5.5 hours). The median time for mechanical ventilation was 101 hours (6–744 hours), in the ICU – 8.5 days (1–31 days). The average time of hospital stay was 18.2 days + –6.7 days (7–31 days). Early postoperative mortality was 3.4%. Renal replacement therapy was required for 2 newborns (7%). Operational risks, according to the Aristotle Score, were significantly higher in newborns (χ2 = 3.9277, df = 1, p-value = 0.0475). There were no cardiac events associated with myocardial perfusion. The type of cardioplegia (blood or “Kustadiol”) did not significantly affect the pumping function of the heart, assessed by transthoracic echocardiography on day 1 after the surgery (χ2 = 0.27273, df = 1, p-value = 0.6015). Acute ischemic cerebrovascular accident occurred in 1 patient (3.5%).

Conclusion. The technique of controlled selective cerebro-myocardial perfusion is reproducible without any additional resource costs. We can confidently say that the time of surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass is much shorter than in case of using deep hypothermic arrest or isolated selective cerebral perfusion, as soon as there is less time needed for cooling and re-warming the body. Also, the time of cardiac arrest was reduced or completely eliminated (with isolated reconstruction of the aortic arch). The technique is effective and safely reproducible in both newborns and older children. The results for mortality and complications are encouraging but must be further evaluated and compared.

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