Intracardiac Repair in Late Adolescent and Adult Tetralogy of Fallot — Early and Midterm Results from a Tertiary Care Centre

INTRODUCTION: In developing countries like India, it is common for late presentation of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) patients to a hospital as compared to that of developed countries. The objective of this study is to analyze the surgical outcome of TOF patients with age > 15 years. METHODS: This is a retrospective descriptive study of the surgical outcomes of 45 adult patients undergoing correction for TOF. Epidemiology, symptomology, and preoperative evaluation were performed. RESULTS: Most of the patients were male (33 [73%]). The median age was 21 years. A total of 42 (93.33%) patients had subaortic ventricular septal defect (VSD), while three (6.6%) patients presented with doubly committed VSD. The most common type of right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) obstruction was combined infundibular and valvular types, accounting for 34 cases (75.5%). Six patients had infundibular RVOT obstruction, while three patients (6.6%) had predominantly valvular pulmonary stenosis. We performed trans-right atrial repair in 33 patients. Right atrium-pulmonary artery approach was used in five patients (11.1%). The most common postoperative complication was right bundle branch block, seen in 14 patients, with a mortality rate of 2% in the early postoperative period. We achieved excellent early and midterm survival results and significant improvement in functions and disease-free quality of life. CONCLUSION: Intracardiac repair in adult TOF can be performed with low mortality, less residual RVOT obstruction, and need for revision of RVOT far less frequent by using the Jhajhria Infundibular Resection Adequacy Assessment technique (JIRAAT) to assess for adequacy of infundibular resection.