Valvar replacement in infants and preschool children: a retrospective single-center study

Results Mean age at surgery was 11.7 ± 10.4 (min = 0.8, max = 32.9) months. Diagnoses were isolated congenital valvopathy (38%), atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) (31%), common arterial trunk (19%) and tetralogy of Fallot (12%). Nine (50%) of the prostheses were located in mitral, 4 (22%) in aortic, 2 (11%) in pulmonary and 3 (17%) in truncal position. Five (31.3%) patients underwent reoperation during the follow-up period and the major indication was prosthetic valve stenosis. The mean time free of reoperation was 76.5 ± 18.8 months. Hospital mortality was 43.8% and the average survival time 58.4 ± 9.3 months. Statistically significant association was found between age at surgery and the occurrence of intra-hospital death, the younger the patient, the greater the risk of dying during the first month after the surgery (p = 0.026). There were differences between the intra-hospital mortality risks according to the underlying congenital heart disease, although this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.084). Valvopathies due to other cardiac defects (AVSD, common arterial trunk and tetralogy of Fallot) had higher occurrence of intra-hospital death.