Permanent complete heart block following surgical correction of congenital heart disease.

BACKGROUND The risk of complete heart block (CHB) from congenital heart repairs in Ghana is unknown. This information is important for referring physicians and in pre-operative counselling of patients and facilitates the process of obtaining informed consent for such repairs. OBJECTIVES This study was undertaken to determine the incidence of permanent post-operative CHB requiring pacemaker implantation; and the post-operative problems related to the pacemaker. DESIGN Retrospective study design. SETTING The National Cardiothoracic Centre (NCTC), Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana. METHOD Review of all patients who had intra-cardiac repair of congenital heart disease known to predispose to post-operative complete heart block from January 1993 to December 2008 was carried out with computation of the frequency of complete heart block according to the intra-operative diagnoses. RESULTS Six out of 242 patients (2.5%) developed permanent post-operative CHB. All underwent closure of a large perimembranous ventricular septal defect (VSD) either as an isolated defect (2 of 151 or 1.3%) or in the setting of conotruncal anomalies (4 of 73 or 5.5%). The dominant parental concern relating to the implanted device was the financial implications of future multiple surgeries to replace a depleted pulse generator. CONCLUSION Permanent post-operative complete heart block occurred in 1.3% of patients undergoing VSD repair and 5.5% of those undergoing repair of conotruncal anomalies (Fallot's tetralogy). The dominant anatomic risk factor was a large perimembranous VSD as an isolated defect or as part of a conotruncal anomaly. Permanent pacemaker implantation in this setting is attended by a low morbidity.