Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kalp ve Damar Cerrahisi AD,İzmir

Background: We evaluated surgical procedures and their results in seven patients treated for type I-II persistent truncus arteriosus (PTA). Methods: The study included seven patients who underwent eight surgical procedures for type I-II PTA at our clinic between 1996 and 2003. Of these, three newborns underwent surgery at ages 35, 40, and 42 days; three infants at ages 6, 11+13, and 15 months, and one patient was eight years old at the time of surgery. Results: The eight-year-old child was considered inoperable with histopathologically confirmed irreversible pulmonary vascular changes following a lung biopsy. Three patients underwent pulmonary artery banding, two of which died during surgery (age, 35 days) and at 11 hours postoperatively (age, 6 months). An 11-month old infant was discharged without any complication following banding and underwent total repair after 1.5 months. Four patients underwent total repair. Of these, two were newborns, and two were infants of around 12 months of age. In the latter two patients, one required an opening in the ventricular septal defect patch at the time of total repair, while the other developed severe pulmonary hypertension within a year due to progressive pulmonary vascular occlusive disease. However, no complications were encountered in the two infants following total repair. They showed normal development after postoperative five and 13 months, respectively. Conclusion: We believe that, under current circumstances, the most ideal method of management of PTA is to perform a total repair in early infancy with the use of homograft conduits.