Perioperative risk factors were inconsistently associated with developmental outcomes .
INTERPRETATION The literature on children undergoing surgery in early infancy suggests that infants with a single ventricle are at highest risk of adverse developmental outcomes .
WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS Children with complex congenital heart disease ( CHD ) are at increased risk of impaired developmental outcome .
Children with single-ventricle CHD have worse outcomes than children with two-ventricle CHD .
Children with two-ventricle CHD gradually grow out of their initial developmental impairment .
Perioperative factors are inconsistently associated with outcome
AIM ( 1 ) To systematic ally review the literature on developmental outcomes from infancy to adolescence of children with complex congenital heart disease ( CHD ) who underwent early surgery ; ( 2 ) to run a meta-regression analysis on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development , Second Edition Mental Developmental Index and Psychomotor Developmental Index ( PDI ) of infants up to 24 months and IQs of preschool-aged children to adolescents ; ( 3 ) to assess associations between perioperative risk factors and outcomes .
Developmental and neurological status of children at 4 years of age after heart surgery with hypothermic circulatory arrest or low-flow cardiopulmonary bypass.
BACKGROUND It is not known whether developmental and neurological outcomes in the preschool period differ depending on whether the predominant vital organ support strategy used in infant heart surgery was total circulatory arrest ( CA ) or low-flow cardiopulmonary bypass . METHODS AND RESULTS Infants with D-transposition of the great arteries who underwent an arterial-switch operation were r and omly assigned to a support method consisting predominantly of CA or low-flow cardiopulmonary bypass .  Developmental and neurological status were evaluated blindly at 4 years of age in 158 of 163 eligible children ( 97 % ) . Neither IQ scores nor overall neurological status were significantly associated with either treatment group or duration of CA . The CA group scored lower on tests of motor function ( gross motor , P=0.01 ; fine motor , P=0.03 ) and had more severe speech abnormalities ( oromotor apraxia , P=0.007 ) . Seizures in the perioperative period , detected either clinical ly or by continuous electroencephalographic monitoring , were associated with lower mean IQ scores ( 12.6 and 7.7 points , respectively ) and increased risk of neurological abnormalities ( odds ratios , 8.4 and 5.6 , respectively ) . The performance of the full cohort was below expectations in several domains , including IQ , expressive language , visual-motor integration , motor function , and oromotor control . CONCLUSIONS 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
Perioperative risk factors were inconsistently associated with developmental outcomes .
INTERPRETATION The literature on children undergoing surgery in early infancy suggests that infants with a single ventricle are at highest risk of adverse developmental outcomes .
WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS Children with complex congenital heart disease ( CHD ) are at increased risk of impaired developmental outcome .
Children with single-ventricle CHD have worse outcomes than children with two-ventricle CHD .
Children with two-ventricle CHD gradually grow out of their initial developmental impairment .
Perioperative factors are inconsistently associated with outcome
AIM ( 1 ) To systematic ally review the literature on developmental outcomes from infancy to adolescence of children with complex congenital heart disease ( CHD ) who underwent early surgery ; ( 2 ) to run a meta-regression analysis on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development , Second Edition Mental Developmental Index and Psychomotor Developmental Index ( PDI ) of infants up to 24 months and IQs of preschool-aged children to adolescents ; ( 3 ) to assess associations between perioperative risk factors and outcomes .