[Reopening of ventricular septal defect after surgical repair: experience with 7 reoperated patients (author's transl)].

Reopening of ventricular septal defect after surgical repair was investigated -- from six months to five years after operation -- on 75 patients who had undergone closure of ventricular septal defect and on 65 patients who had undergone complete correction of tetralogy of Fallot. The complication appeared in 3 patients (4%) of the first group and in 4 (6%) of the second group, always early after the operation (from 24 hours to 2 months). All patients underwent reoperation - operative mortality rate was 66% in the first group and 25% in the second one. Operative mortality was higher in patients with cardiac and/or tricuspidal failure, also after prolonged preoperative medical treatment.