Risk factors for neurological complications and short-term outcomes after pediatric heart surgery: a retrospective analysis

Abstract

Objective To assess the risk factors associated with neurological complications and poor short-term outcomes following pediatric heart surgery. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted in a cardiac intensive care unit between June 2019 and June 2022. The data of all children less than 15 years old who underwent open-heart surgery and had CT brain were extracted from hospital records. The primary outcome was the incidence of CNS insult, and secondary outcomes included death after surgery, length of stay in ICU and hospital. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 23, and a p-value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Total 1850 surgeries were performed in the specified period of time. The study included 208 children who had CT Brain, with a median age of 5 months. 2.81 % children had neurological complications, with 25 % of patients who had CT brain. The most common neurological complication was seizure (7.2 %). There were no significant differences observed between CNS insult and age, gender, syndrome, or prematurity (p > 0.05), except for a significant association between previous CNS insult and CNS insult after surgery (p = 0.001). Children with CNS insult had significantly higher ICU and hospital length of stay, mortality after surgery, and mortality within 2 weeks of surgery (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion Seizure was most common neurological manifestation after cardiac surgeries in children. CNS insult after surgery was associated with worse outcomes, including longer hospital stays and increased mortality.