Objective: To study patients' characteristics, variations of the heart diseases, operative techniques and operative results of open heart surgery from our initial experiences
Material and Methods: We reviewed the medical records of the initial 100 cases of open heart surgery at Songklanagarind Hospital between August 2001 and October 2002. Patient's demographic characteristics, preoperative New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, diagnosis of heart disease, operation, postoperative course, morbidity, mortality and short-term follow up were reviewed.
Results: There were 55 females and 45 males, average age 25.6 years (range from 1 year to 70 years). Fourteen patients (14%) were in NYHA class I, fifty-two (52%) in NYHA class II, twenty (20%) in NYHA class III and fourteen (14%) in NYHA class IV. There were 55 patients (55%) diagnosed with congenital heart diseases and 45 patients (45%) with acquired heart diseases. Seventy-two patients (72%) could be extubated within 6 hours after operation and sixty-six patients (66%) stayed in the ICU for only 1 day. The 30-day mortality occurred in three patients (3%). The average follow-up period was 6.8 months (range from 2-15 months) and an additional 2 patients died during follow-up. Most of our patients were in NYHA class I postoperatively.
Conclusion: We achieved acceptable morbidity and mortality rates in various of operative procedures. Also the short-term results were good.