[Aortic coarctation and complex heart disease. Surgical treatment during the first year of life].

During the five years 1990 through 1994, 70 neonates and infants had surgery for coarctation of the aorta. 30 patients with complex coarctation of the aorta underwent a first stage correction with supplementary ductus ligation and pulmonary artery banding as needed. The mode of surgical repair of coarctation was end-to-end anastomosis in ten patients and patch graft in 20 patient. Mean follow-up was 766 (range 3-1812) days. Mortality after primary procedure was 16.6% (5/30) and after secondary procedure 11.1% (2/18). Three surviving patient developed recoarctation, but only one patients needed re-operation. In spite of improvement in neonatal cardiac surgery, we conclude that a staged approach is still the current treatment in most cases of complex coarctation of the aorta.