Introduction: Coarctation of the aorta is the fifth most common congenital heart disease in clinical practice. Surgical repair has been performed in infants with high survival; still patients maintain a high risk of morbidity and mortality, moreover in the presence of associated cardiac lesions. Thus, it is imperative a medical follow-up of these patients in order to understand the impact of the disease in their quality of life.
Objectives: To report the surgical results, long term survival, complications and present health related quality of life of patients submitted to surgical repair of aortic coarctation.
Methods: Retrospective review of all patients younger than 1 year old submitted to surgery, between 1998 and 2005, at Centro Hospitalar São João. A survey was answered by the patients to address present quality of life.
Results: Fifty patients were available for study. Twenty patients (40,0%) were neonates at the time of surgery and 31 (62%) presented to urgent repair. Isolated coarctation was noticed in 25 patients (50,0%) and the most common surgical technique was resection and end-to-end anastomosis, in 64,0%. Early mortality was 4,0% and zero in patients with isolated coarctation. Actuarial survival rates were 90,0%, 88,0% and 88,0% at 5, 10 and 17 years of follow-up, respectively. Complex coarctation was associated with decreased survival (p = 0,007). Patients reported in questionnaires similar results to healthy population.
Conclusion: Surgical repair of aortic coarctation is a relatively safe surgery, however patients maintain risks of arterial hypertension, re-coarctation and mortality at long term. Nevertheless, patients report a quality of life that is no different than healthy population.