Early intracardiac repair of large ventricular septal defects with conventional cardiopulmonary bypass and moderate hypothermia.

With the use of conventional cardiopulmonary bypass and moderate hypothermia, primary intracardiac repair of large ventricular septal defects was performed in 30 children below the age of two years. All babies were falling to thrive and suffered from cardiac failure resistant to medical therapy, or had evidence of early pulmonary vascular disease. Two patients died after the operation, giving an operative mortality of 6.7%. Twenty-eight survivors have been followed for periods of one month to two and a half years. All are thriving and have normal or mildly enlarged hearts on their chest skiagrams. Primary intracardiac repair of large ventricular septal defects can be performed in infants and small children with a low operative risk when the standard cardiopulmonary bypass technique is being used.