Congenital cardiac surgery without routine placement of wires for temporary pacing.
OBJECTIVE
Temporary pacing wires have been associated with serious postoperative complications. Recommendations for their routine use after open heart surgery are decades old, and may not reflect current surgical techniques and outcomes.


METHODS
The electronic web-enabled medical records of all patients undergoing congenital cardiac surgery from February, 2002, through December, 2005, were reviewed, excluding patients undergoing implantation of pacemakers as a primary procedure, or those undergoing ligation of a patent arterial duct.


RESULTS
There were 1193 surgical procedures performed, 1041 with cardiopulmonary bypass. Median age of the patients was 5.8 months, with a range from 0 days to 54 years, weighing 6.2 kilograms, with a range from 1 to 114 kilograms. Mortality prior to discharge was 2.5%, and median postoperative stay was 6 days. No deaths were attributed to arrhythmias. Temporary pacing wires were placed 14 times (1.2%). Indications for placement included sinus nodal dysfunction in 8 patients, preoperative in 4 and intraoperative in 4, high degree atrioventricular block in 4 patients, and intraoperative atrial flutter in 2 patients. Of these patients, 4 (0.3%) eventually underwent permanent implantation of a pacemaker, 2 for persistent sinus nodal dysfunction, and 2 for persistent atrioventricular block. Postoperative junctional ectopic tachycardia requiring antiarrhythmic therapy occurred in 9 patients (0.8%). All recovered without incident, and none were treated with temporary pacing.


CONCLUSIONS
The diminished risk of unexpected postoperative arrhythmias in the current era alleviates the necessity for routine placement of temporary pacing wires. Those institutions with experienced surgical and cardiac critical care teams may be able to predict the need for temporary pacing wires preoperatively or intraoperatively.
Fishberger
Steven B
SB
Division of Cardiology, Congenital Heart Institute, Miami Children's Hospital, 3200 SW 60th Court, Miami, FL 33155, USA. steven.fishberger@mch.com
Rossi
Anthony F
AF
Bolivar
Juan M
JM
Lopez
Leo
L
Hannan
Robert L
RL
Burke
Redmond P
RP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002304:Cardiac Pacing, Artificial / Q000379:methods*; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D000075202:Contraindications; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends