[The results of the surgical treatment of aortic coarctation in nursing infants with a sharp decrease in left ventricular pumping function].

Abstract

Two-dimensional echocardiography was conducted in 24 patients, aged from 14 days to 12 months, suffering from coarctation of the aorta (CA) with the left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) less than 30%. The symptom of LV fibroelastosis was found in only 16.7% of patients. In the first 7 days after correction of CA the LV end-systolic volume reduced by 20% and the EF increased by 1.5 times, which may be explained by removal of LV post-loading. The values of the LV pumping function improved in the late periods due to restoration of myocardial contractility. In infants operated on in the first 3 months of life the dynamics was more favorable, the EF reached 68 +/- 3.8% while in those operated on after the age of 3 months it reached only 50.8 +/- 2.5% (p < 0.05). The authors discuss problems of compensatory hypertrophy and myocardial contractile capacity as the main mechanisms responsible for LV pumping function in CA.