Simple deep hypothermia for open-heart surgery.

Two hundred fifty patients more than 2 years of age having correction of congenital heart diseases by simple deep hypothermia alone were investigated in respect to metabolic abnormalities, post-operative complications, intellectual development and postoperative EEGs. LOS in lethal complications was attributed to the difficulty of resuscitation, indicating the application of this method is ideal for patients less than 6 years in age or less than 20 kg in weight. No impairment of intellectual development was observed when compared IQ before the operation and at the time of long term follow-up in serial study, but electroencephalographic assessment indicated that postoperative abnormalities might occur more frequently than previously suspected. Conclusively, it would appear that hypothermic intracardiac surgery is a safe method, provided circulatory arrest time is not allowed to exceed a limited period and the procedure is reasonably performed having a good understanding in the pathophysiology of hypothermia.