Early Outcomes of Septal Myectomy for Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Children With Noonan Syndrome

Noonan syndrome (NS) is a genetic syndrome causing obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in infants. Studies of cardiac surgery in pediatric HCM patients with NS (NS-HCM) are lacking. We aim to characterize the early disease course of young NS-HCM patients before adolescence and assess their complications and survival condition after septal myectomy. Pediatric obstructive HCM patients who underwent septal myectomy at age 10 years or under were enrolled consecutively between 2009 and 2019. Ten patients with NS and 43 non-NS patients were enrolled in our study. NS-HCM patients were diagnosed at a younger age (5.00 ± 7.48 months vs. 18.73 ± 26.96 months) and more often had biventricular outflow tract obstruction (90.00% vs 30.23%). The surgical treatment can significantly reduce the pressure gradient of the outflow tract. More NS-HCM patients had biventricular reconstruction (70.00% vs 25.58%). The overall survival rates in all patients were 98.04% during 5-year follow-up, respectively. Complete heart block (CHB) was the most prevalent complication in patients with NS and tended to be more common than in non-NS patients (20% vs 7.32%). No sudden cardiac death (SCD) occurred in CHB patients who had pacemaker implantation. Biventricular reconstruction was the risk factor for CHB. Septal myectomy is safe and effective surgery to relieve obstruction in young age pediatric obstructive NS-HCM patients. Postoperative CHB is a common complication, especially in patients who underwent biventricular reconstruction. The implantation of pacemaker can protect CHB patients from SCD and improve their prognosis.