Mjaye L. Mazwi

Unplanned reinterventions are associated with postoperative mortality in neonates with critical congenital heart disease

OBJECTIVE Neonates with critical congenital heart disease remain at risk of adverse outcomes after cardiac surgery. Residual or undiagnosed anatomic lesions might be contributory. The present study aimed to describe the incidence and type of cardiac lesions that lead to early, unplanned cardiac reintervention, identify the risk factors for unplanned reintervention, and explore the associations between unplanned reinterventions and hospital mortality. METHODS The present single-center retrospective cohort study included 943 consecutive neonates with critical congenital heart disease who underwent cardiac surgery from 2002 to 2008. An unplanned cardiac reintervention was defined as a cardiac reoperation or interventional cardiac catheterization performed during the same hospitalization as the initial operation. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the risk factors for unplanned cardiac reintervention and hospital mortality. RESULTS Of the 943 neonates, 104 (11%) underwent an unplanned cardiac reintervention. The independent predictors of unplanned reintervention included prenatal diagnosis, lower birth weight, need for mechanical ventilation before the initial cardiac operation, lower attending surgeon experience, and greater Risk Adjustment in Congenital Heart Surgery, version 1, category. Those who underwent reintervention had increased hospital mortality (n = 33/104, 32%) relative to those who did not (n = 31/839, 4%; adjusted odds ratio, 8.6; 95% confidence interval, 4.7 to 15.6; P < .001). The mortality rates among patients undergoing surgical reintervention (23/66, 35%) or transcatheter reintervention (4/16, 25%), or both (6/22, 27%) were similar (P = .66). CONCLUSIONS The need for unplanned cardiac reintervention in neonates with critical congenital heart disease is strongly associated with increased mortality. Early unplanned reinterventions might be an important covariate in outcomes studies and useful as a quality improvement measure.

The role of palliative care in critical congenital heart disease

Patients with critical congenital heart disease are exposed to significant lifetime morbidity and mortality. Prenatal diagnosis can provide opportunities for anticipatory co-management of patients between palliative subspecialists and the cardiac care team. The benefits of palliative care include support for longitudinal decision-making and avoidance of interventions not consistent with family goals. Effectively counseling families requires an up-to-date understanding of outcomes and knowledge of provider biases. Patient-proxy reported quality of life (QOL) is highly variable in this population and healthcare providers need to be aware of limitations in their own subjective assessment of QOL.

Associations Between Unplanned Cardiac Reinterventions and Outcomes After Pediatric Cardiac Operations

BACKGROUND After pediatric heart operations, we sought to determine the incidence of unplanned cardiac reinterventions during the same hospitalization, assess risk factors for these reinterventions, and explore associations between reinterventions and outcomes. We hypothesized that younger patients undergoing more complex operations would be at greater risk for unplanned cardiac reinterventions and that operative mortality and postoperative length of stay (PLOS) would be greater in patients who undergo reintervention than in those who do not. METHODS Patients aged 18 years or younger in The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database (January 2010 to June 2015) were included. We used multivariable regression to evaluate risk factors for unplanned cardiac reintervention (operation or therapeutic catheterization) and associations of reintervention with operative mortality and PLOS. RESULTS Of 84,404 patients (117 centers), 21% were neonates and 36% infants. An unplanned cardiac reintervention was performed in 5.4% of patients, including 11.8% of neonates, 5.2% of infants, and 2.8% of children. Independent risk factors for unplanned reintervention included presence of noncardiac anomalies/genetic syndromes, nonwhite race, younger age, lower weight among neonates and infants, prior cardiothoracic operations, preoperative mechanical ventilation, other Society of Thoracic Surgeons preoperative risk factors, and higher Society of Thoracic Surgeons-European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery Mortality Category (adjusted p < 0.001 for all). Unplanned reintervention was a risk factor for operative mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 5.3; 95% confidence interval, 4.8 to 5.8; p < 0.001) and longer PLOS (adjusted relative risk, 2.3; 95% confidence interval, 2.2 to 2.4; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Unplanned cardiac reinterventions are not rare, particularly in neonates, and are independently associated with operative mortality and increased PLOS. Patients at greater risk may be identified preoperatively, presenting opportunities for quality improvement.

Shunt Lesions Part I: Patent Ductus Arteriosus, Atrial Septal Defect, Ventricular Septal Defect, and Atrioventricular Septal Defect.

Objectives: This review summarizes the current understanding of the pathophysiology and perioperative management of patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, and atrioventricular septal defect. Data Source: MEDLINE and PubMed. Conclusions: The four congenital cardiac lesions that are the subject of this review, patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, and atrioventricular septal defect, are the most commonly found defects causing a left-to-right shunt. These defects frequently warrant transcatheter or surgical intervention. Although the perioperative care is relatively straightforward for many of these patients, there are a number of management strategies and complications associated with each intervention. The treatment outcomes for all of these lesions are very good in the current era.

Critical care for paediatric patients with heart failure

This review offers a critical-care perspective on the pathophysiology, monitoring, and management of acute heart failure syndromes in children. An in-depth understanding of the cardiovascular physiological disturbances in this population of patients is essential to correctly interpret clinical signs, symptoms and monitoring data, and to implement appropriate therapies. In this regard, the myocardial force-velocity relationship, the Frank-Starling mechanism, and pressure-volume loops are discussed. A variety of monitoring modalities are used to provide insight into the haemodynamic state, clinical trajectory, and response to treatment. Critical-care treatment of acute heart failure is based on the fundamental principles of optimising the delivery of oxygen and minimising metabolic demands. The former may be achieved by optimising systemic arterial oxygen content and the variables that determine cardiac output: heart rate and rhythm, preload, afterload, and contractility. Metabolic demands may be decreased by a number of ways including positive pressure ventilation, temperature control, and sedation. Mechanical circulatory support should be considered for refractory cases. In the near future, monitoring modalities may be improved by the capture and analysis of complex clinical data such as pressure waveforms and heart rate variability. Using predictive modelling and streaming analytics, these data may then be used to develop automated, real-time clinical decision support tools. Given the barriers to conducting multi-centre trials in this population of patients, the thoughtful analysis of data from multi-centre clinical registries and administrative databases will also likely have an impact on clinical practice.

Diagnostic errors in paediatric cardiac intensive care

IntroductionDiagnostic errors cause significant patient harm and increase costs. Data characterising such errors in the paediatric cardiac intensive care population are limited. We sought to understand the perceived frequency and types of diagnostic errors in the paediatric cardiac ICU. METHODS Paediatric cardiac ICU practitioners including attending and trainee physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and registered nurses at three North American tertiary cardiac centres were surveyed between October 2014 and January 2015. RESULTS The response rate was 46% (N=200). Most respondents (81%) perceived that diagnostic errors harm patients more than five times per year. More than half (65%) reported that errors permanently harm patients, and up to 18% perceived that diagnostic errors contributed to death or severe permanent harm more than five times per year. Medication side effects and psychiatric conditions were thought to be most commonly misdiagnosed. Physician groups also ranked pulmonary overcirculation and viral illness to be commonly misdiagnosed as bacterial illness. Inadequate care coordination, data assessment, and high clinician workload were cited as contributory factors. Delayed diagnostic studies and interventions related to the severity of the patients condition were thought to be the most commonly reported process breakdowns. All surveyed groups ranked improving teamwork and feedback pathways as strategies to explore for preventing future diagnostic errors. CONCLUSIONS Paediatric cardiac intensive care practitioners perceive that diagnostic errors causing permanent harm are common and associated more with systematic and process breakdowns than with cognitive limitations.

HARMFUL DIAGNOSTIC ERRORS OCCUR FREQUENTLY IN PEDIATRIC CARDIAC INTENSIVE CARE: A MULTI-SITE SURVEY

Errors in diagnosis cause significant harm and increase costs. Data characterizing such errors in pediatric cardiac intensive care units (PCICU) are limited. An anonymous, 23-item survey was sent to 432 PCICU practitioners (physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and nurses) at 3