A CLINICAL CASE OF THE “STONE HEART” SYNDROME IN A PREMATURE BABY WITH RADICAL CORRECTION OF A CONGENITAL HEART DEFECT: VENTRICULAR SEPTAL DEFECT AND ATRIAL SEPTAL DEFECT

Highlights The article aims to expand the understanding of septal defects in children with congenital heart defects, emphasizing their frequency and variety of clinical manifestations, and to describe radical corrections of hearts defects, which, despite their routine nature, can be accompanied by severe complications. Abstract Septal defects in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) occur frequently: atrial and interventricular septal defects are quite common, either in isolation or as a part of other complex heart defects. In many cardiac surgical centers, surgical correction of septal defects is considered a “routine” operation; such patients usually do not have complications before, during, or after surgical intervention. Despite the seemingly commonplace nature of the procedure, there are some severe complications such as “stone heart” syndrome. Stone heart syndrome or ischemic myocardial contracture is a condition caused by impaired blood supply to the myocardium, resulting in impairment of energy metabolism in cardiomyocytes and the development of ischemic contracture. The article presents a clinical case of a child undergoing a radical correction of CHD complicated by fatal ischemic myocardial contracture.