Ann Thorac Surg 2006;82:956-957
© 2006 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Original article: Cardiovascular
Invited commentary
Anthony Azakie, MD
Pediatric Heart Center, University of California San Francisco, Department of Surgery, University of California Medical Center, 513 Paranassus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94143
(Email: azakiet@surgery.ucsf.edu).
| The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below. |
Andersen and colleagues [1] report the incidence of complete atrioventricular (AV) conduction block in a selected group of patients who had surgical closure of ventricular septal defect (VSD) at Great Ormond Street during a 26-year period. The results are excellent with an overall incidence of less than 1% for pacemaker insertions after postsurgical AV conduction block. Based on important anatomic and morphologic data, the authors make recommendations to further reduce the risk of injury to the AV conduction axis, supporting the notion that the incidence of the postoperative need for a pacemaker may in fact be less than 0.5%.
The anatomy of the conduction tissue in congenital heart disease is fundamental to surgical practice. Thanks to the many contributions of Anderson and colleagues [1], Becker, Kurosawa, de Leval, and others, many of the morphologic details of the AV conduction axis in . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Copyright © 2006 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
