Perioperative Considerations for Pediatric Patients With Congenital Heart Disease
Published: December 15, 2022
- Continuous advances in pediatric cardiology, surgery, and critical care have significantly improved survival rates for children and adults with congenital heart disease (CHD). Consequently, the resulting increase in longevity has expanded the prevalence of both repaired and unrepaired CHD and has escalated the need for diagnostic and interventional cardiac and noncardiac procedures.
- Patients with CHD are at high risk for mortality, complications, and reoperation after noncardiac procedures. In 2019, the mortality rate in patients with CHD at children’s hospitals was 1.06%, compared with 0.12% in non-CHD patients undergoing the same noncardiac procedures.
- The rigorous study of risk factors and outcomes has identified subsets of patients with minor, major and severe CHD who may have higher-than-baseline risk when undergoing noncardiac procedures and this has led to the development of risk prediction scores specific to this population.