Evaluation of the Etiology and Medium-Term Outcome of Neurological Complications post cardiac surgery in Congenital Heart Disease in Children

Abstract

Congenital heart diseases are one of the most common congenital disorders that lead to considerable complications following surgical and interventional treatments. The mortality rate of these diseases has increased due to cases such as heart failure, respiratory failure, and shock. This study aimed to to investigate the causes and mid-term results of neurological complications of open heart surgery in children with CHD. Materials and Methods: Patient information including the type of congenital heart disease, type of surgery, duration of CPB, duration of aortic clamp (Cross clamp time), type of neurological complication (convulsions, change in level of consciousness, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, irritability, accidents cerebrovascular, local neurological complications, optic nerve complications), duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of stay in pediatric intensive care unit, duration of hospitalization, duration of use of inotropes, mortality of children were extracted. Results: In this cross-sectional study, 150 children (54% male) who underwent open heart surgery due to congenital heart disease and suffered from neurological complications, with an average age of 5.4 ± 7.1 years were investigated. The most common complication was related to seizures (72%). Other acute neurological complications including severe irritability, local neurological complications, visual neurological complications, stroke, and change in level of consciousness had a frequency of 7.3%, 8%, 6%, 2%, and 4.7%, respectively. The mortality rate after open heart surgery was 24.7%.