title: Outcome of low body weight (<2.2 kg) infants undergoing cardiac surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Infants with low body weight (LBW) following cardiac surgery are a major challenge for the post cardiac surgery care unit. It has been observed that post surgery outcome for LBW infants is worse compared to the outcome of normal body weight infants. A study was conducted to compare post operative course and outcome of infants with body weight of 2.2 kg or less against infants with normal body weight who underwent similar cardiac surgeries.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review was performed for all infants below 2.2 kg who underwent cardiac operations at King Abdulaziz Cardiac Center from January 2001 to October 2011. Cases with LBW (Group A) were compared with matching group (Group B) of normal body weight infants who had similar cardiac surgeries and matching surgical risk category. The demographic, ICU parameters, complications, and short-term outcome of both groups were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two groups were formed, with 37 patients in Group A, and 39 patients in Group B. Except for weight (2.13 ± 0.08 kg in Group A vs 3.17 ± 0.2 kg in Group B), there was no statistical difference in demographic data between both groups. Cardiac procedures included coarctation repair, arterial switch, ventricular septal defect (VSD) repair, tetralogy of Fallot repair, systemic to pulmonary shunt and Norwood procedures. Patients in Group A had statistically significant difference from Group B in terms of bypass time (p = 0.01), duration of inotropes (p = 0.01), duration of mechanical ventilation (p = 0.004), number of re-intubations (p = 0.015), PCICU length of stay (p = 0.007), and hospital mortality: 13.5% in Group A vs 0% in Group B (p value 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with LBW (<2.2 kg) underwent cardiac surgery with overall satisfactory results, but with increased risk of ICU morbidity and mortality.
authors: King Abdulaziz Medical City, King Saud University for Health Sciences, Department of Cardiac Sciences, National Guard Hospital Health Affairs, Riyadh.
authors: Akhter
authors: A
authors: Mehmood
authors: King Abdulaziz Medical City, King Saud University for Health Sciences, Department of Cardiac Sciences, National Guard Hospital Health Affairs, Riyadh.
authors: Sameh R
authors: SR
authors: Ismail
authors: King Abdulaziz Medical City, King Saud University for Health Sciences, Department of Cardiac Sciences, National Guard Hospital Health Affairs, Riyadh.
authors: Mohamed S
authors: MS
authors: Kabbani
authors: King Abdulaziz Medical City, King Saud University for Health Sciences, Department of Cardiac Sciences, National Guard Hospital Health Affairs, Riyadh.
authors: Riyadh M
authors: RM
authors: Abu-Sulaiman
authors: King Abdulaziz Medical City, King Saud University for Health Sciences, Department of Cardiac Sciences, National Guard Hospital Health Affairs, Riyadh.
authors: Hani K
authors: HK
authors: Najm
keywords: Cardiac surgery; Low body weight; Pediatric; Post operative