After heart surgery in neonates and infants, both low-flow bypass and circulatory arrest perfusion strategies have comparable effects on the nonneurological postoperative course and hemodynamic profile.

Heart surgery performed with circulatory arrest as the predominant support strategy is associated with a higher risk of delayed motor development and neurologic abnormalities at the age of one year than is surgery with low-flow bypass as the predominant support strategy.

Use of CA to support vital organs during open heart surgery in infancy is associated, at the age of 4 years, with worse motor coordination and planning but not with lower IQ or with worse overall neurological status.

In heart surgery in infants, a strategy consisting predominantly of circulatory arrest is associated with greater central nervous system perturbation in the early postoperative period than a strategy consisting predominantly of low-flow cardiopulmonary bypass. Assessment of the effect of these findings on later outcomes awaits follow-up of this cohort.

No abstract