Measures to Improve In-Hospital Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Surgical Repair for Anomalous Origin of Left Coronary Artery from Pulmonary Artery

BACKGROUND: Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare congenital anomaly leading to progressive left ventricular dysfunction and mitral regurgitation. We conducted this study to investigate various measures to optimize the outcomes of surgical correction for ALCAPA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a single-centre, retrospective, observational study including consecutive patients operated for ALCAPA. The main outcomes evaluated were in-hospital mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, and duration of intensive care unit (ICU) stay. Independent sample t- test and Fisher's exact test were used for the analysis of continuous and categorical variables respectively. RESULTS: 31 patients underwent surgical correction for ALCAPA during the study duration. The median age was 7.3 months with a range of 21 days to 25 months. All patients underwent coronary re-implantation with the coronary button transfer technique. There was no in-hospital mortality, the mean duration of mechanical ventilation and ICU stay was 117.6 hours and 10.7 days respectively. Age at admission, development of acute kidney injury after surgery, lactate levels at 12- and 24-hours post-surgery, and heart rate at ICU admission and 12-hours post-surgery were significantly associated with mechanical ventilation duration longer than 48 hours. Use of a combination of levosimendan and milrinone and elective intermittent nasal continuous positive airway pressure ventilation after extubation in all patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction were helpful in preventing low cardiac output and need for reintubation post-surgery respectively. CONCLUSION: Surgical correction for ALCAPA by coronary re-implantation has an excellent short-term outcome. Optimal postoperative management is of utmost importance for achieving the best results.