Perioperative data are given in Table 2. There was no
death and no residual shunt in either group. Patients in
the conventional group had significantly longer CPB
times than the beating-heart group, but skin-to-skin
time was similar in both groups. There were no significant
differences between groups in terms of postoperative
cardiac function, cardiac arrhythmias, and
ejection fraction on transthoracic echocardiography.
There were no significant differences between groups
in the amount of blood products transfused, intensive
care unit stay, hospital stay, and perioperative morbidity.
Although systemic embolic complications occurred
in 3 patients in the beating-heart group, this was not
statistically significant. In the first case, a 45-year-old
man developed acute femoral artery occlusion after
ASD repair, with clinical improvement after surgical
embolectomy. In the second case, a 4-year-old girl
had a generalized tonic clonic seizure in the immediate
postoperative period. She regained full consciousness
after 72 h on anticonvulsive medication. The 3rd
patient was an 18-year-old man who developed left
hemiplegia. Fortunately, after 4 months, he showed
clinical improvement to motor power grade V. The subgroup
analysis to evaluate risk factors for systemic
embolism showed no significance for any factors such
as age, CPB time, size of defect, or postoperative atrial
fibrillation (Table 3).