Early Outcomes for Management of Atrioventricular Septal Defect—Tetralogy of Fallot in the Last Decade: A Congenital Heart Surgeons’ Society Study

Background We sought to determine the management and early outcomes of complete atrioventricular septal defect—tetralogy of Fallot (AVSD-TOF) for a contemporary multicenter cohort. Methods Of 739 participants in the Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society AVSD cohort (January 2012-May 2021), 40 had AVSD-TOF. We first compared survival differences for patients with AVSD-TOF versus those with isolated AVSD using propensity matching. Secondly, for patients with AVSD-TOF, we compared staged (n = 16) versus primary (n = 24) repair by assessing the following: patient characteristics, progression of atrioventricular valve (AVV) regurgitation, and time-related reoperation and survival. Results Five-year survival was similar between matched AVSD-TOF and isolated AVSD groups (80% vs 81%, P = .9). Compared with primary repair patients, staged patients had smaller pulmonary valve annulus Z-score measured at first presentation (−2.2 vs −2.9, P = .006). All staged patients (12 Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunts, 3 right-ventricular-outflow-tract stents, 1 ductal stent) survived to complete repair. Freedom from AVSD-related reoperation five years post-AVSD-TOF repair was 57% after staged versus 90% after primary repair ( P < .05) and left AVV reoperations were the most frequent reintervention. Survival five years after AVSD-TOF repair was 80% (63% after staged vs 90% after primary repair; P = .08). Conclusions Patients undergoing AVSD-TOF repair have similar survival compared with matched isolated AVSD patients. Although approximately half of AVSD-TOF patients had initial palliation and all survived to complete repair, staged repair patients had lower survival and a higher reintervention rate compared with primary repair patients. The decision to pursue staged versus primary repair for future babies with AVSD-TOF remains challenging and should be chosen based on individual circumstances.