title: Early postoperative arrhythmias after pediatric cardiac surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This prospective study proposed to determine the incidence, risk factors, and management protocols for early postoperative arrhythmias after pediatric cardiac surgery, with focus on outcomes, using a uniform protocol, and also to see if children operated on at a later age have different issues from those operated on earlier.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of 224 consecutive pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery from September 2013 to July 2014, 24 were excluded because their procedures were performed without cardiopulmonary bypass.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age was 24 months (mean 50.1 ± 62.4 months, range 0.5-216 months). Fifteen (7.5%) patients developed arrhythmia, the most common was junctional ectopic tachycardia (n = 7, 46.6%) followed by supraventricular tachycardia (n = 5, 33.3%). All junctional ectopic tachycardias occurred within 24 h of intensive care unit admission. Of the 7 patients with junctional ectopic tachycardia, 5 responded to conventional measures and 2 required amiodarone infusion. There was a significant longer cardiopulmonary bypass time in patients with arrhythmias compared to those without arrhythmias.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We observed a very low incidence of arrhythmias, particularly junctional ectopic tachycardia, after open heart surgery in children. Other than a longer cardiopulmonary bypass time, no specific predictors were identified. It appears that the cause of arrhythmias following pediatric cardiac surgery is multifactorial and needs further study with a greater number of patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India sachintalwar@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Sachin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Talwar
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Kartik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Rajnish
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Juneja
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Shiv Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Choudhary
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Balram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Airan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D061665:Time-to-Treatment; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Arrhythmias; Child; Heart defects; Postoperative complications; Tachycardia; cardiac; congenital