Endocardial Cushion Defect

THE REPAIR of atrial septal defects was first undertaken over a decade ago.1'Although secundum-type defects could be closed adequately without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass, it soon became apparent that defects of the endocardial cushion type were not am-enable to correction by indirect technies.5 Accordingly, the need arose to differentiate these two lesions; the clinical, electrocardiographic, and hemodynamic characterization of each emerged subsequently.6-10 With the advent of cardiopulmonary bypass the surgeon has been afforded adequate visualization and the necessary time for rep,air of endocardial cushion defects. Several reports have appeared in the literature evaluating the immediate restlts of such correetion.11-14 However, no appraisal of long-term results of repair of endocardial cushion defects has been published. The purpose of this presentation is to report the results of surgical correction of endocardial cushion defects at The Children's Hospital Medical Center in 44 patients followed for at least 1 year postoperatively.