The Impact of Dedicated Cardiac Intensive Care Units on Outcomes in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery: A Virtual Pediatric Systems Database Analysis

Cardiovascular Critical Care in Children

Pediatric cardiac critical care has evolved with advances in congenital heart surgery, interventional cardiac catheterization, and diagnostic advances. Debate remains over the optimal location of care and training background despite data showing that systems established in collaboration with multidisciplinary experts in the care of children with congenital heart disease are associated with the best outcomes. Operative mortality is low, and preventing morbidity is the new focus of the future. Advances in screening and fetal diagnosis, mechanical circulatory support, and collaborative research and quality improvement initiatives are reviewed in this article.