A Trial Septal Defect of Secundum Type in Patients Under 40 Years of Age: A Review of 481 Operated Cases. Symptoms, Signs, Treatment and Early Results

In the period 1957-1976 481 patients under 40 years of age were operated on. Dyspnoea and increased fatigue were dominating symptoms in more than half of the series. In 202 cases the anomaly was discovered at routine examination in the absence of relevant symptoms. Almost half of the patients were operated under hypothermia, in the others extracorporeal perfusion was used. Four hospital deaths occurred, two of which were related to cardiopulmonary bypass.