Three cases of bowel perforation prior to surgery for congenital heart disease in neonatal period: Determination of the timing for ileostomy, colostomy, or other laparotomies and heart surgery.

Abstract

 We report 3 cases of patients with bowel perforation that occurred prior to surgery for congenital heart disease in the neonatal period. Emergent laparotomy is indicated for bowel perforation. However, the patient outcomes and infection risk from heart surgeries succeeding ileostomy, colostomy, or other laparotomies are unclear. We determined the timing for ileostomy, colostomy, or other laparotomies and heart surgery in consideration of the cardiac conditions of the patients (necrotizing enterocolitis with patent ductus arteriosus in an extremely low-birth-weight infant, intussusception with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and idiopathic colonic perforation with complete transposition of the great arteries [type I], respectively). In all the cases described herein, favorable outcomes were obtained with no complications during the perioperative period in the heart surgeries.