Early Reoperations in a 5-Year National Cohort of Pediatric Patients With Congenital Heart Disease

Results of an audit of the National Congenital Heart Disease database were evaluted to determine characteristics of patients undergoing reoperation within 30 days of their primary procedure.  Among over 18,000 patients, 3.5% had early reoperations.  The reoperations were most commonly arterial shunt, PA band, and VSD procedures.  60 day mortality was 5-fold higher than among patients who did not have an early reoperation.