Among 380 children scheduled for cardiovascular surgery, 32.3% of operations were postponed due to medical reasons, with lower respiratory tract pathologies being the most common cause (53.7%).
Observational (n=380)
No
Nearly one-third of scheduled pediatric cardiovascular surgeries in a Turkish tertiary center were postponed, primarily due to respiratory infections, highlighting the need for preoperative optimization.
Background Preoperative evaluation and elimination of the identified medical problems is one of the most important steps of surgeries to reduce perioperative morbidity and mortali- ty risks. The aim of this study is to present the medical reasons which resulted in the postponement of scheduled pedia- tric cardiovascular surgeries in our center and to discuss what should be the limit of surgical postponement rates. Patients and methods This retrospective study included 123 pediatric patients whose scheduled cardiovascular operations were post- poned in Kartal Koşuyolu Research and Training Hospi- tal from April, 2014 to May, 2015. The postponement rates due to medical reasons were calculated and corre- lations between the age and gender of children, type of surgery and postponement were analyzed statistically. Results Out of 380 scheduled children, 0 to 16 years old (mean age 4.2±5.1 years), 123 were postponed 1 to 7 days (mean 3.8±2.4 days) before the planned date of opera- tion. The postponement rate was 32.3%. Medical rea- sons for the postponement were lower (53.7%) or upper respiratory tract (15.4%) infections, neurologic (8.2%), urinary tract (6.5%) or gastroenterologic diseases (5.7%), endocrinologic (5.7%) or hematologic (3.2%) abnormalities and varicella infection (2.6%). Postpone- ment was found to have a significant relationship with the age (p0.05). Conclusion As a tertiary center that accepts children from va- rious regions of the country, we should develop some strategies to decrease the postponement rates for ratio- nal use of the operating theaters without neglecting the preoperative evaluation for surgical safety.
Karaağaç et al. (Fri,) conducted a observational in Scheduled pediatric cardiovascular surgeries (n=380). Among 380 children scheduled for cardiovascular surgery, 32.3% of operations were postponed due to medical reasons, with lower respiratory tract pathologies being the most common cause (53.7%).