Effect of right anterolateral thoracotomy versus median sternotomy on postoperative wound tissue repair in patients with congenital heart disease: A meta‐analysis

Abstract

Right anterolateral thoracotomy (RAT) and median sternotomy (MS) are two major methods for treatment of congenital cardiac disease. But there are various types of surgery that provide a better operative outcome for the patient. Therefore, we carried out a meta‐analysis to investigate the effects of these two methods in the treatment of wound tissue, hospitalization and so on, to find out which surgery method could provide the best short‐term effect. In this research, we chose an English controlled trial from 2003 to 2022 to evaluate the influence of right anterolateral thoracotomy and median sternotomy on the short‐term outcome of Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), time of operation, time spent in the hospital, and the time of scar formation. Our findings suggest that the RAT method was associated with a shorter surgical scars for congenital heart disease operations compared to MS with respect to post‐operation scars (WMD, 3.55; 95% CI, 0.04, 7.05; p = 0.05). The RAT method is better suited to the needs of patients who care about their injuries. Nevertheless, in addition to other surgery related factors which might affect post‐operative wound healing, we discovered that MS took a shorter time to perform CPB compared with RAT surgery (WMD, − 1.94; 95% CI, −3.39, −0.48; p = 0.009). Likewise, when it comes to the time taken to perform surgery, MS needs less operational time compared to RAT methods (WMD, −12.84; 95% CI, −25.27, −0.42; p = 0.04). On the other hand, the time needed for MS to recover was much longer compared to the RAT (WMD, 0. 60; 95% CI, 0.02, 1.18; p = 0.04). This indicates that while RAT is advantageous in terms of shortening the duration of post‐operative scar, it also increases the time needed for surgical operations and CPB.