Early outcomes of primary sutureless repair of the pulmonary veins.

Background: The "sutureless" repair technique has improved outcomes for post-repair pulmonary vein (PV) stenosis. The purpose of this study is to determine the early outcomes of primary sutureless repair of pulmonary venoocclusive disease in infants with congenital PV stenosis-hypoplasia or PVs at high risk for progressive stenosis.

Methods: This is a retrospective review of infants who had primary sutureless repair of the PVs from October 2002 to April 2010.

Results: Twenty-five infants had primary sutureless repair of the PVs. Eighteen infants had total anomalous pulmonary venous return; 14 with obstruction, 10 with heterotaxy syndrome, and 9 with univentricular anatomy. Seven infants had congenital PV stenosis. There were 24 perioperative survivors (96%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 75% to 99%) and 2 late deaths from extracardiac causes. Follow-up was available on 21 out of 22 survivors at a median duration of 34 months (range, 9 to 100 months). Persistence-recurrence of PV stenosis occurred in 3 veins (3%) of 2 infants (8%). On follow-up echocardiography, right ventricular systolic pressure was normal in 13 out of 14 infants with a biventricular heart and 60% of systemic blood pressure in 1 infant. Kaplan-Meier 1-year cumulative survival was 88% (95% CI, 66% to 96%). Kaplan-Meier cumulative disease-free survival was 96% (95% CI, 75% to 99%) at 30 days and 84% (95% CI, 58% to 95%) at 1 year. By Cox proportional hazards, age, univentricular anatomy, and atrial isomerism-heterotaxy syndrome were not associated with an increased risk of death or persistence-recurrence. One-year disease-free survival was lower in infants with prematurity (p=0.0055) and low birth weight (p=0.0011).

Conclusions: Primary sutureless repair is a feasible, safe, and relatively effective method of addressing congenital PV stenosis and (or) high-risk PVs, particularly in infants with single ventricle anatomy and (or) heterotaxy syndrome.