Cause‐Specific Mortality in Patients During Long‐Term Follow‐Up After Atrial Switch for Transposition of the Great Arteries

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the cause of death (CoD) in patients with transposition of the great arteries palliated with a Mustard or Senning procedure. The aim was to describe the CoD for patients with the Mustard and Senning procedure during short‐ (<10 years), mid‐ (10–20 years), and long‐term (>20 years) follow‐up after the operation. METHODS AND RESULTS: This is a retrospective, descriptive multicenter cohort study including all Nordic patients (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) who underwent a Mustard or Senning procedure between 1967 and 2003. Patients who died within 30 days after the index operation were excluded. Among 968 patients with Mustard/Senning palliated transposition of the great arteries, 814 patients were eligible for the study, with a mean follow‐up of 33.6 years. The estimated risk of all‐cause mortality reached 36.0% after 43 years of follow‐up, and the risk of death was highest among male patients as compared with female patients (P=0.004). The most common CoD was sudden cardiac death (SCD), followed by heart failure/heart transplantation accounting for 29% and 27%, respectively. During short‐, mid‐, and long‐term follow‐up, there was a change in CoD with SCD accounting for 23.7%, 46.6%, and 19.0% (P=0.002) and heart failure/heart transplantation 18.6%, 22.4%, and 46.6% (P=0.0005), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients corrected with Mustard or Senning transposition of the great arteries, the most common CoD is SCD followed by heart failure/heart transplantation. The CoD changes as the patients age, with SCD as the most common cause in adolescence and heart failure as the dominant cause in adulthood. Furthermore, the risk of all‐cause mortality, SCD, and death attributable to heart failure or heart transplantation was increased in men >10 years after the Mustard/Senning operation.