%0 Journal Article
%T Programmatic Changes to Reduce Mortality and Morbidity in Humanitarian Congenital Cardiac Surgery
%A George J. Arnaoutakis
%A Randa Blenden
%A Rodrigo Soto
%A Tyler J. Wallen
%J World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery
%@ 2150-136X
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/2150135117737686
%X This report documents the outcomes of cardiac surgical mission trips organized by the International Children's Heart Foundation (ICHF), a nongovernmental organization that provides congenital heart surgery services to the developing world, and discusses factors associated with a reduction of mortality and morbidity in this setting. A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database was conducted to identify any patient who underwent surgical intervention during the course of an ICHF mission trip. From 2008 to 2016, a total of 223 trips were made to 23 countries and 3,783 operations were performed. Over 40 unique types of operations were performed with repairs of atrial septal defects (ASDs; n = 479), ventricular septal defects (VSDs; n = 760), teratology of Fallot (n = 473), and ligation of patient ductus arteriosus (PDA; n = 242), comprising the majority of cases. Several organizational policy changes were instituted in 2015. These include the requirement of the host site to have a fully functional blood bank and access to medical subspecialties, the ICHF providing 24-hour intensivist coverage, and not performing surgery on patients weighing less than 10 kg until local capacity has been developed. The overall mortality rate fell to 2.3% from 8.1% after the implementation of these policies. The mortality for ASD repair, VSD repair, PDA ligation, and the repair of tetralogy of Fallot fell from 1.2% to 0%, 1.8% to 0%, 0% to 0%, and 5.6% to 5.1%, respectively. The reoperation rate fell from 11% to 3% and reoperation for a bleeding indication fell from 6% to 2%. Programmatic-level changes have been associated with reduced rates of mortality and morbidity in humanitarian congenital cardiac surgery
%K humanitarian
%K system-based practice
%K mortality
%K morbidity
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2150135117737686