Thirty-five patients were discharged from the hospital after a Mustard procedure and have been followed a mean of 4.5 years. Thirty remain in a stable atrial or sinus rhythm, 3 have required hospitalization and medication to control atrial dysrhythmias, 1 is in a junctional rhythm, and 1 requires a pacemaker. In no patient has there been clinical evidence of systemic or pulmonary venous baffle obstruction. Twenty-two patients have had an elective postoperative cardiac catheterization, which has confirmed the absence of baffle obstruction. We attribute the lack of baffle obstruction and the low incidence of atrial dysrhythmias to several technical points in the operation including: (1) direct high cannulation of the superior vena cava, (2) aggressive resection of the atrial septum except in the region of the atrioventricular node, (3) an extremely large pericardial baffle trimmed in the manner of Brom, (4) sharp divergence of the upper and lower limbs of the inferior suture line away from one another and toward the caval orifices once they enter the right atrium, and (5) very superficial endocardial bites of the baffle suture line in the region of the sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodes.
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Presented in part at the Halsted Society Meeting, Tucson, AZ, Oct 30–Nov 2, 1985.
