Introduction: The practice of cardiac surgery (CS) in sub-Saharan Africa faces a number of challenges. We report on the surgical activities of the first 17 months of the program launched at the Yaoundé General Hospital (YGH), describing the types of interventions and the early results. Patients and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study including patients who underwent CS from September 2022 to January 2024 at the YGH. Clinical, operative and postoperative data were collected and analysed retrospectively by R software. Results: A total of 37 patients underwent CS during the study period, divided into 23 (62.2%) open-heart and 14 (37.8%) closed-heart cases. Males predominated (sex ratio 1.17). The median age and interquartile range (IQR) were 36 years (9 - 51). Isolated valve surgery, in 15 (40.5%) cases, was the most common procedure in open-heart surgery cases. Closed-heart surgery involved closure of the patent ductus arteriosus in 9 (24.3%) cases, coronary artery bypass grafting in 3 (8.1%) cases, and pericardectomy in 2 (5.4%) cases. The median duration of extracorporeal circulation and aortic cross-clamping was 101 min (IQR 84 - 143) and 74 min (IQR 54 - 112) respectively. The median duration of mechanical ventilation was 2 hours (IQR 2 - 3). The median intensive care unit stay and median hospital stay were 2 days (IQR 2 - 3) and 7 days (IQR 5 - 8) respectively. Operative mortality was 2 (5.4%). Conclusion: Cardiac surgery remains a major challenge for African populations. The early results achieved by the local team are satisfactory. An increase in surgical activity should be strongly encouraged to facilitate local training and ensure the sustainability of the activity.
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