Moderately hypoplastic arches: Do they reliably grow into adulthood after conventional coarctation repair?

Abstract

To determine whether conventional coarctation repair results in sustained growth of hypoplastic transverse arches, we examined the follow-up of 20 patients operated through a thoracotomy between 1990 and 1995 who had available serial echocardiographic examinations. Mean age at operation was 8.6±5.7 days. In the distal transverse arch, maximum change was observed in the early postoperative period and sustained growth was observed thereafter. At last follow-up, no patients had Z-scores of less than -2. In contrast, only minimal growth occurred in the proximal transverse arch (mean Z-score diameter before and after repair: -1.87±0.12 vs. -1.66±0.09; P=0.05) in the postoperative period. At last ..