Objective Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in very‐low‐birth‐weight infants. The aim of the study is to report our single-center short-term results of preterm patients who underwent patent ductus arteriosus ligation through left anterior mini-thoracotomy . Methods Data of 27 preterm infants operated by the same surgeon who underwent PDA closure with left anterior minithoracotomy technique between November 2020 and January 2022 at a single instution were reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups according to their weight at the time of surgery. Data on early postoperative outcomes and survival rates after discharge were collected. Results Twenty-seven patients with a mean (±SD) gestational age of 25.8 (±2.0) weeks and a mean birth weight of 1027 (±423) g were operated using left anterior mini-thoracotomy technique. The lowest body weight was 480 g. Complications such as bleeding, abnormal healing of incision or pneumothorax were not seen. There were 8 mortalities after the operation (29,6 %). There was no internal thoracic artery injury or no need for conversion to thoracotomy or sternotomy. there were 6 (22%) deaths in the postoperative first 30 days and 4 (14,8%) deaths between the postoperative first month and first year. The cause of the deaths were sepsis, NEC, hydrops fetalis, hepatoblastoma and intracranial bleeding. Left diaphragmatic elevation developed in 1 patient, and plication was performed. There was no statistically significant difference in the rates of morbidity, and complication between the groups. Conclusions PDA closure with the left anterior mini-thoracotomy method is advantageous in terms of reducing damage to the already congested lung, shortening the hypothermia time of the baby by shortening the procedure time, and has good cosmetic results, especially in very low birth weight preterm babies.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to describe our short-term outcomes using BioIntegral pulmonic conduit. METHODS Between August 2018 and September 2019, the BioIntegral pulmonic valved conduit was used for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction in 48 patients. The data was retrospectively retrieved from the patient charts. RESULTS The median age at the operation was 36 months (IQR:18-62 months). The diagnoses were PA-VSD in 28 patients, absent pulmonary valve in four patients, truncus arteriosus in six patients, TGA-VSD-PS in five patients, conduit stenosis in three patients and LVOT obstruction requiring Ross operation in two patients. In the postoperative follow-up 15 patients out of 48 had high fever. Out of these, 12 patients had concomitantly elevated CRP levels. There were no patients with blood culture positivity. The median postoperative length of hospital stay was 14 days (IQR:8-21 days). The overall mortality was recorded in 2 patients (4 %), one died due to right ventricular failure and multiple organ failure and one died due to pulmonary embolism. The two patients who died were not among the 15 patients with fever. CONCLUSIONS There was high incidence of fever and adverse outcomes in the short-term postoperative follow-up of the patients in whom the BioIntegral pulmonic valved conduit was implanted. Caution is advisable in using these conduits until there is convincing evidence about the sterilisation and storage standards of these grafts.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to describe the short-term and mid-term outcomes of the preterm infants who underwent patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) ligation in by anterior mini-thoracotomy. METHODS Data of 103 preterm infants who underwent PDA ligation by anterior mini-thoracotomy between 2009 and 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. PDA was clipped through an anterior mini-thoracotomy at the 2nd intercostal space. Outcomes were defined according to complications, morbidity and mortality rates within the postoperative 30 days and one year. RESULTS The median weight of the patients during the operation was 900 (IQR800–1125 g) grams and the lowest body weight was 460 grams. The median age at the operation was 21 (IQR14,5–29 days) days. In three patients (3%) there was intraoperative bleeding from the PDA that required transition to median sternotomy. In one patient (1%) residual PDA was seen and this patient was reoperated on the 4th postoperative day. One patient (1%) underwent surgical revision for chylothorax and chylomediastinum causing late cardiac tamponade on the 26th postoperative day. Twelve patients (12%) died in the first 30 days postoperatively. Six patients (6%) died between the thirtieth day and a year. CONCLUSIONS After a decade and over a hundred patients with PDA ligation through anterior mini-thoracotomy in preterm infants is still the main procedure of choice in this patient group in our clinic. Our outcomes demonstrate the safety of this approach and we believe that it can be reproducible.