Adult Congenital Heart Disease Surgery
Condition: Congenital Disorders
MeSH terms: Heart Diseases; Heart Defects, Congenital
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      It is now estimated that the number of adults with congenital heart disease in the U.S is
      over 800,000. Unfortunately, these patients, in some way, have become a lost population. They
      have congenital abnormalities familiar to a children's hospital, yet have surpassed the age
      cutoff for admission.

      Recently, we have developed a specialized program to care for this unique patient population.
      Dedicated programs such as ours hope to optimize patient care, consolidate specialized
      resources, provide sufficient patient numbers for training and maintain expertise and
      facilitate research in this unique population.
    

Detailed description: 
      In the United States, approximately 30,000 children are born with congenital heart disease
      every year. As technology, operative technique, and critical care medicine have improved
      significantly over the years, more of these children are surviving into adulthood.

      Care of the congenital cardiac surgical patient requires a concerted effort on the part of
      the surgeons, perfusionists, anesthesiologists, intensivists, nurses, respiratory therapists,
      rehabilitation services and social workers. It is hoped that the same excellent care received
      in a children's congenital heart surgery program can be continued as these patients graduate
      into an adult program.

      This is a retrospective chart review examining patients over the age of 18 years who have
      undergone operations for congenital heart disease. The primary interest of the study is to
      look at the breakdown of our adult congenital program in regards to location, personnel, and
      case type. All charts reviewed will be of patients who had their surgery at Children's
      Healthcare of Atlanta or Emory University between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2006. We
      will review approximately 225 charts for this study.

      The first aim of the study would be to examine the demographics of the adult congenital heart
      surgery program itself. The following information will be collected:

        -  Location of the surgery - children's hospital vs adult hospital

        -  Surgeon - adult cardiac surgeon vs congenital cardiac surgeon

      The second aim of the study would be to analyze the types of surgeries being performed. The
      following information will be collected:

        -  Pathologic diagnosis

        -  Number of re-operative sternotomies

        -  Number of open-heart surgeries

      The third aim of the study would be to analyze our outcomes. The following information will
      be collected:

      - Number of surgical mortalities
    

Observational model: Case-Only
Time perspective: Retrospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        This is a retrospective chart review examining patients over the age of 18 years who have
        undergone operations for congenital heart disease. The primary interest of the study is to
        look at the breakdown of our adult congenital program in regards to location, personnel,
        and case type. All charts reviewed will be of patients who had their surgery at Children's
        Healthcare of Atlanta or Emory University between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2007. We
        will review approximately 350 charts for this study.

        Some of the patients have been cared for in the system for many years, first at Egleston
        and then at Emory. We are only interested in the congenital operations performed on
        patients after the age of 18 years old up until approximately 65 years of age. Initially
        these were done at Egleston, although more recently they are being done at Emory.
      
Keywords: Congenital Heart Disease; Surgery; Adult