Pediatric Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery

DIVISION OF PEDIATRIC CARDIOVASCULAR AND THORACIC SURGERY

The Pediatric CVT Division has always maintained a high standard of care. The surgeons have attended courses and meetings every year in order to bring new technology to enhance surgical skills, to master new surgical techniques, and to provide the best care. A neonatal program was developed four years ago whereby all neonatal surgeries were performed by a single surgeon to increase the caseload and ensure ongoing expertise. This strategy has improved the surgical outcomes, and currently specific neonatal protocols per cardiac anomalies are being developed by the cardiac sciences team in a continuous effort to decrease mortality and morbidity.

The mortality for infants less than one year old and children less than 17 years old has decreased steadily and is now approaching 0%. These results are biannually benchmarked with the 5 centers members of the Toronto database. These outcomes have been obtained through teamwork with meticulous preoperative assessment, attention to surgical techniques, and aggressive postoperative care. A strong quality assurance program has helped to ensure continuity and a high standard of care. The replacement of our internal database by the Toronto Sick Children’s database software five years ago has provided the capability to benchmark our results with five other Canadian centres. The data information is completed every six months with a full report. It is a very important component of the Cardiac Surgical Quality Assurance Program.