Fifty-six palliative operations were performed for 55 patients with tetralogy of Fallot, including one case of the second shunting procedure. The patients were distributed from 6 months-old boy upto 24 years-old female with the average age of 8.3 years, and 18 patients were below 5 years of age. Male had predominated over female with the sex ratio of 1.8:1. The types of surgery and the hospital mortality according to the procedure were as follows: Glenn, 13.3%, 2 out of 15; Brock, 66.7%, 2 out of 3; Blalock-Taussig, 11.1%, 2 out of 18; and Waterston, 15.0%, 3 out of 20. The overall hospital mortality was 9 out of 56 procedures, 16.1%.
The immediate improvement on the bases of both clinical and laboratory findings was observed in 97.9% of 47 patients who were discharged from the hospital. The Brock procedure was excluded from the favorable methods of the palliative procedure for tetralogy of Fallot because of its high hospital mortality in this hospital. And the Glenn procedure was also avoided bacuase of its impractical difficulty on the passible total correction. The optimal timing and effects of the palliative operations in the treatment of tetralogy of Fallot were discussed with the stress on the point that the palliative surgery is not merely palliative but can prolong the life-span in some.
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