OBJECTIVE: A review of experience with techniques of correction used, in the last 20 years, in children younger than one year old. METHODS: In the period from 1978 to 1998, 148 patients (pt) with coarctation of the aorta (CoAo), under one year of age, with or without associated intracardiac defects, were submitted to surgery. Median age 50 days, 92 female pt (62.1%). The average weight was 4,367± 1,897 gr. The average follow-up was 1,152±1,462 days. The population was divided in 3 groups: Group I, isolated CoAo: 74 pt (50%); Group II, CoAo and interventricular communication (IVC): 41 pt (27.7%) and Group III, CoAo with complex intracardiac malformations: 33 pt (22.3%). RESULTS: The total mortality was of 43 patients (29%). In patients younger than 30 days, the mortality was 53%, p=0.009, DR=4.5, between 31 and 90 days, 14.7%, p=0.69, and over 91 days, 15%, p=0.004. The probability of actuarial survival of the whole population was 67% at 5 and 10 years. Thirty-six patients (24.3%) had recoarctation, from which 18 patients (50%) were younger than 30 days, DR=6.,35. The incidence of recoarctation was with Waldhausen technique in 4 patients (10%) and with the classic termino-terminal technique in 19 patients (26%) p=0.03, and isthmusplastic operation in 6 patients (37.5%). The patients younger than 30 days showed a relative risk for recoarctation de DR=6.35. The probability of actuarial survival, free of coarctation repair, at 5 and 10 years was of 69% with Waldhausen’s technique and 63% with the classic termino-terminal technique. CONCLUSION: Patients younger than 30 days showed increased mortality and recoarctation risk. Waldhausen’s technique in patients older than 30 days showed effective. The classic termino-terminal technique did not show to be a good option in all age ranges, being imperative to carry out more radical technical variations, such as the extended termino-terminal.
