Infant heart transplantation at Stanford: growth and neurodevelopmental outcome.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the growth and neurodevelopmental outcome of 18 surviving Stanford patients who received heart transplantations before their second birthday.


METHODS
We compared the growth and neurodevelopmental outcome of these 18 patients with a second group of age-matched comparison patients who underwent other heart surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass.


RESULTS
Difficulties with growth and development were more common in the transplant group as were neurologic abnormalities. Speech and language delays as well as hearing problems were also more common in the transplant group.


CONCLUSIONS
Multicenter prospective longitudinal neurodevelopmental outcome studies of infant heart transplant patients should be conducted to provide a more efficient basis for evaluating management protocols and assessment of long-term outcomes and of the need for early intervention services.
Fleisher
Barry E
BE
Department of Pediatrics. Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.barry.fleisher@stanford.edu
Baum
David
D
Brudos
Ginger
G
Burge
Mary
M
Carson
Elaine
E
Constantinou
Janet
J
Duckworth
Josh
J
Gamberg
Pat
P
Klein
Pat
P
Luikart
Helen
H
Miller
Joan
J
Stach
Brad
B
Bernstein
Dan
D
D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000601:surgery; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D009420:Nervous System / Q000254:growth & development*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome