Indications and Results of Repair of the Rhumatismal Valve in Children in Senegal concerning 63 Cases

Abstract

In Africa, acute rheumatic fever is endemic. Cardiac involvement is one of the most common complications in the form of valvular heart disease representing all damages to the heart valves. It is in this perspective that we realized this study whose general objective was to evaluate the results of mitral repair surgery in children in Senegal and the specific objective was to state the indications for mitral repair surgery and assess the results in terms of morbidity and mortality. This is a retrospective and analytical monocentric study, in the thoracic and cardiovascular surgery department of FANN National University Hospital Center in Dakar. It took place over a period of 30 months. All the patients who underwent mitral surgery, aged less than 18 years were included. The total number of patients was 63, including 39 girls and 24 boys, a sex ratio of 0.62. The average age at the time of the surgery was 12 years old [5 - 17]. The functional symptomatology was dominated by the dyspnea found in all the patients. Cardiac ultrasound was diagnosed with mitral regurgitation in all patients. For all surgical procedures, the approach was a vertical midline sternotomy. The mitral valve was approached by left atriotomy in 40 patients (63.5%) and by transseptal way in 23 patients. All patients had undergone mitral valve repair associated or not with either aortic valve repair in 9 patients (14.2%), aortic valve replacement in 3 patients (4.8%), or one tricuspid valve repair in 31 patients (49%). The average duration of intubation was 6 hours [2 - 52]. The average length of stay in intensive care was 2 days. Postoperative complications have been observed. Surgery was performed in 10 patients with 3 mitral valve replacements, 2 aortic valve replacements, a double mitral and an aortic valve replacement associated with a tricuspid repair and in 4 cases a perfection of their mitral repair. Early and late surgical mortality was zero. The average follow-up time for our patients was 9 months [1 - 26]. During their follow-up, the evolution was favorable in 89% of patients who no longer had any functional symptoms.