Mechanical support availability in pediatric cardiac surgery: program size should not matter.
Intractable heart failure may require Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS) techniques for rescue therapy. Nevertheless, in many small to middle-sized centers in Europe, this valuable resource is not available. In our University pediatric intensive care unit 0.9% of 1360 open-heart surgical patients required mechanical assistance over the latest 9 years with a survival rate of 69.2% and low residual morbidity. This favorable overall outcome suggests that regardless of the program size, it is possible to ensure the availability of efficient mechanical assistance that appears to be fundamental in a center performing surgery for complex congenital or acquired cardiac diseases.
da Cruz
Eduardo M
EM
Beghetti
Maurice
M
Kalangos
Afksendyios
A
Berner
Michel
M
Sierra
Jorge
J
Aggoun
Yacine
Y
Tissot
Cécile
C
Pellegrini
Michel
M
Saudan
Sonja
S
Habre
Walid
W
Rimensberger
Peter C
PC
D000293:Adolescent; D002302:Cardiac Output; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015199:Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male