Early results of aortic arch reconstruction and bilateral pulmonary artery banding: modification of the Norwood operation for treatment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome

Abstract

Background: In the period from 2003 to the end of 2015, 96 Norwood I procedures were performed in the Paediatric Heart Surgery Department in Katowice, Poland, in children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).

Aim: This paper presents a retrospective analysis of early surgical results.

Methods: The patients consisted of two groups: group I included 59 children operated on in the years 2003–2012, in whom the stage I Norwood procedure with the Sano modification was performed with the aortic arch reconstructed by use of a ho-mogenous pulmonary artery patch or a bovine pericardial patch. Group II included 37 children after our modification of the Norwood I procedure, in which the aortic arch was reconstructed with an extracellular matrix patch and bilateral pulmonary artery banding was done.

Results: Aortic cross-clamping time was significantly shorter in group II (mean 52; range 38–62 min) than in group I (mean 57; range 39–72 min; p < 0.009). Eighteen (30.5%) children in group I and six (16.2%) in group II died. Although this dif-ference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.12), it suggested that improved outcomes with the modified procedure are possible. The cause of death in group I was significantly more frequently due to massive postoperative bleeding (n = 6; 33.3%) than in group II (n = 1; 16.7%; p = 0.046).

Conclusions: The introduction of this new surgical technique reduced postoperative bleeding rates, shortened the operation time, and might improve the mortality rate in the first-stage surgical treatment of children with HLHS.