Introduction
Surgical reconstruction of the aortic arch in newborns and infants has
traditionally been performed using deep hypothermic circulation arrest
(DHCA) (1-3). DHCA has a number of complications, the most important of
which is neurological injury (4,5). ACP may be related with lower
neurologic complications(6). However, the heart remained ischemic during
cardiac arrest. Although DHCA continues to be used today, the use of ACP
is preferred (7). Furthermore, using the coronary perfusion (CP) method
allows archus surgery to be performed on a beating heart (BH) (8) and
better postoperative outcomes have been reported with this method
(9,10). BH arch reconstruction also shortens the ischemia time of the
heart.
There is no definite consensus regarding perfusion strategies. In this
report, we review our experience with beating heart arch surgery (BHAS)
in newborns and infants undergoing arch reconstruction. We also compared
BHAS to ACP and cardiac arrest (CA) perfusion strategies with regard to
short- and mid-term outcomes.