As pediatric cardiac critical care becomes more sub-specialized it is reasonable to assume that dedicated units may provide a better infrastructure for improved multidisciplinary care, cardiac-specific patient safety initiatives, and dedicated training of fellows and residents. The knowledge base required to optimally manage pediatric patients with critical cardiac disease has evolved sufficiently to consider a standardized training curriculum and board certification for pediatric cardiac critical care. This strategy would potentially provide consistency of training and healthcare and improve quality of care and patient safety.

Neonatal critical aortic stenosis is a rare form of CHD that often presents with cardiogenic shock. Although surgical and cardiac catheterisation-based interventions have been successful in alleviating left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, it remains associated with high morbidity and mortality. Critical aortic stenosis results in elevated left ventricular wall stress, which ultimately increases myocardial oxygen consumption and disrupts coronary artery perfusion during diastole, leading to ventricular dysfunction and cardiogenic shock. Critical care management before definitive intervention should be tailored to optimising oxygen delivery and reducing metabolic consumption of the myocardium and peripheral organ systems. This can be accomplished with prostaglandin infusion to maintain system perfusion through patency of the arterial duct, inotropic support, mechanical ventilation, and central nervous system abrogation. Management should also include a multi-specialty medical team including paediatric cardiothoracic surgeons and paediatric cardiologists with expertise in cardiac catheterisation, imaging, and transplantation.

Despite many advances in recent years for patients with critical paediatric and congenital cardiac disease, significant variation in outcomes remains across hospitals. Collaborative quality improvement has enhanced the quality and value of health care across specialties, partly by determining the reasons for variation and targeting strategies to reduce it. Developing an infrastructure for collaborative quality improvement in paediatric cardiac critical care holds promise for developing benchmarks of quality, to reduce preventable mortality and morbidity, optimise the long-term health of patients with critical congenital cardiovascular disease, and reduce unnecessary resource utilisation in the cardiac intensive care unit environment. The Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium (PC4) has been modelled after successful collaborative quality improvement initiatives, and is positioned to provide the data platform necessary to realise these objectives. We describe the development of PC4 including the philosophical, organisational, and infrastructural components that will facilitate collaborative quality improvement in paediatric cardiac critical care.

Although mortality rates for patients with d-transposition of the great arteries remain quite low, these patients have a unique circulation that requires careful management in the peri-operative period. Despite the improved mortality for patients with common arterial trunk, the course in the intensive care unit is remarkable for significant morbidity and utilisation of significant resources. Pre-operative patient management focuses on balancing competing circulations, pulmonary and systemic, which exist in parallel rather than in series, as in the normal circulation. Post-operative patient management in both lesions focuses on optimising systemic output, respiratory status, and mitigating the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass. In this article, we review pre- and post-operative intensive care management in neonates with d-transposition of the great arteries and common arterial trunk.

The management of newborns with hypoplastic left heart syndrome has changed significantly over the past three decades, with an associated dramatic improvement in outcomes. The aim of this paper is to discuss current peri-operative and palliative surgical strategies. Owing to the fact that comparative outcomes for these strategies have been addressed in a limited number of prospective trials and extractions from multi-centred databases, the primary focus of this review is descriptive.

Improvement in operative survival of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome has led to increasing emphasis on prevention of interstage mortality. Many centres have improved interstage results through programmes of home monitoring following discharge after the Norwood (Stage 1) operation. Experience with heightened interstage surveillance has identified failure to thrive during infancy as a modifiable risk factor for this population, one that has been linked to concerning outcomes at subsequent palliative surgeries. Ensuring normal growth as an infant has thus become a priority of management of patients with functionally univentricular hearts. Herein, we review the existing evidence for best practices in interstage surveillance and optimal nutrition in infants with functionally univentricular hearts. In addition, we highlight data presented at HeartWeek 2011, from Cardiology 2011, the 15th Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease, and the 11th Annual International Symposium on Congenital Heart Disease.

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery is a rare congenital cardiac malformation that accounts for 0.25–0.50% of children with congenital cardiac disease and can cause myocardial dysfunction in young infants. In any infant presenting with ventricular dysfunction, the diagnosis of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery must be suspected and the origin of the coronary arteries must be confirmed. The diagnosis of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery is an indication for surgical repair. A two-coronary arterial system is the goal and is almost always achievable. The goal of surgical therapy is the creation of a two-coronary arterial system, which appears to provide better long-term survival and protection from left ventricular dysfunction and mitral valvar regurgitation than does simple ligation of the anomalous coronary artery. Direct reimplantation of the anomalous coronary artery is the procedure of choice. It is straightforward and borrows from well-practised techniques commonly used in other procedures such as the arterial switch operation. For the rare patient in whom direct reimplantation is not possible, strategies to lengthen the anomalous coronary artery, or baffle it within the pulmonary root, are available. Mitral valvar regurgitation is common at presentation, but following the establishment of a two-coronary arterial system and satisfactory myocardial perfusion, regurgitation of the mitral valve resolves in the vast majority. Therefore, mitral valvuloplasty at the time of initial surgery for anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery is not indicated. Post-operative care requires careful manipulation of inotropic support and reduction of afterload. Mechanical support, with either extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or left ventricular assist device, should be available for use if necessary.

The development of databases to track the outcomes of children with cardiovascular disease has been ongoing for much of the last two decades, paralleled by the rise of databases in the intensive care unit. While the breadth of data available in national, regional and local databases has grown exponentially, the ability to identify meaningful measurements of outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease is still in its early stages.

In the United States of America, the Virtual Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Performance System (VPS) is a clinically based database system for the paediatric intensive care unit that provides standardized high quality, comparative data to its participants [https://portal.myvps.org/]. All participants collect information on multiple parameters: (1) patients and their stay in the hospital, (2) diagnoses, (3) interventions, (4) discharge, (5) various measures of outcome, (6) organ donation, and (7) paediatric severity of illness scores. Because of the standards of quality within the database, through customizable interfaces, the database can also be used for several applications: (1) administrative purposes, such as assessing the utilization of resources and strategic planning, (2) multi-institutional research studies, and (3) additional internal projects of quality improvement or research.

In the United Kingdom, The Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network is a database established in 2002 to record details of the treatment of all critically ill children in paediatric intensive care units of the National Health Service in England, Wales and Scotland. The Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network was designed to develop and maintain a secure and confidential high quality clinical database of pediatric intensive care activity in order to meet the following objectives: (1) identify best clinical practice, (2) monitor supply and demand, (3) monitor and review outcomes of treatment episodes, (4) facilitate strategic healthcare planning, (5) quantify resource requirements, and (6) study the epidemiology of critical illness in children.

Two distinct physiologic risk adjustment methodologies are the Pediatric Risk of Mortality Scoring System (PRISM), and the Paediatric Index of Mortality Scoring System 2 (PIM 2). Both Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM 2) and Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM 3) are comprised of clinical variables that include physiological and laboratory measurements that are weighted on a logistic scale. The raw Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) score provides quantitative measures of severity of illness. The Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) score when used in a logistic regression model provides a probability of the predicted risk of mortality. This predicted risk of mortality can then be used along with the rates of observed mortality to provide a quantitative measurement of the Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR). Similar to the Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) scoring system, the Paediatric Index of Mortality (PIM) score is comprised of physiological and laboratory values and provides a quantitative measurement to estimate the probability of death using a logistic regression model.

The primary use of national and international databases of patients with congenital cardiac disease should be to improve the quality of care for these patients. The utilization of common nomenclature and datasets by the various regional subspecialty databases will facilitate the eventual linking of these databases and the creation of a comprehensive database that spans conventional geographic and subspecialty boundaries.

A complication is an event or occurrence that is associated with a disease or a healthcare intervention, is a departure from the desired course of events, and may cause, or be associated with, suboptimal outcome. A complication does not necessarily represent a breech in the standard of care that constitutes medical negligence or medical malpractice. An operative or procedural complication is any complication, regardless of cause, occurring (1) within 30 days after surgery or intervention in or out of the hospital, or (2) after 30 days during the same hospitalization subsequent to the operation or intervention. Operative and procedural complications include both intraoperative/intraprocedural complications and postoperative/postprocedural complications in this time interval.

The Multi-Societal Database Committee for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease has set forth a comprehensive list of complications associated with the treatment of patients with congenital cardiac disease, related to cardiac, pulmonary, renal, haematological, infectious, neurological, gastrointestinal, and endocrinal systems, as well as those related to the management of anaesthesia and perfusion, and the transplantation of thoracic organs. The objective of this manuscript is to examine the definitions of operative morbidity as they relate specifically to the gastrointestinal system. These specific definitions and terms will be used to track morbidity associated with surgical and transcatheter interventions and other forms of therapy in a common language across many separate databases.

Although serious gastrointestinal complications are relatively uncommon after congenital cardiac surgery, accurate estimates of the incidences of these complications are limited, in part due to lack of standardized reporting and the absence of universal nomenclature that defines organ-specific complications. The Multi-Societal Database Committee for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease has prepared and defined a list of gastrointestinal complications that may be temporally associated with congenital cardiac surgery. Clinicians caring for patients with congenital cardiac disease will be able to use this list for databases, initiatives to improve quality, reporting of complications, and comparing strategies of treatment.

A complication is an event or occurrence that is associated with a disease or a healthcare intervention, is a departure from the desired course of events, and may cause, or be associated with, suboptimal outcome. A complication does not necessarily represent a breech in the standard of care that constitutes medical negligence or medical malpractice. An operative or procedural complication is any complication, regardless of cause, occurring (1) within 30 days after surgery or intervention in or out of the hospital, or (2) after 30 days during the same hospitalization subsequent to the operation or intervention. Operative and procedural complications include both intraoperative/intraprocedural complications and postoperative/postprocedural complications in this time interval.

The MultiSocietal Database Committee for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease has set forth a comprehensive list of complications associated with the treatment of patients with congenital cardiac disease, related to cardiac, pulmonary, renal, haematological, infectious, neurological, gastrointestinal, and endocrinal systems, as well as those related to the management of anaesthesia and perfusion, and the transplantation of thoracic organs. The objective of this manuscript is to examine the definitions of operative morbidity as they relate specifically to the renal system. These specific definitions and terms will be used to track morbidity associated with surgical and transcatheter interventions and other forms of therapy in a common language across many separate databases.

Although renal dysfunction and renal failure are known risks of congenital heart surgery, accurate estimates of the incidences of these complications are limited. This lack of knowledge is in part due to the lack of uniform definitions of these postoperative complications. The purpose of this effort is to propose consensus definitions for renal complications following congenital cardiac surgery so that collection of such data can be standardized. Clinicians caring for patients with congenital heart disease will be able to use this list for databases, quality improvement initiatives, reporting of complications, and comparing strategies for treatment.

Variability in practice can be considered to foster clinical innovation, and allow for individualized therapeutic plans and independence of practitioners. The Institute of Medicine, however, has issued a report suggesting that variability in patterns of practice are “illogical”, and should be avoided whenever possible. Perhaps nowhere in the field of congenital cardiac disease is variability in practice more apparent than in the management of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This review assesses the variability in practice at a large number of centres that manage neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, with an emphasis on practice before, during, and after the first stage of the Norwood sequence of operations. We also suggest changes in future strategies for research.

In March, 2007, colleagues were contacted to respond to an internet-based survey using commercially available software (www.surveymonkey.com) to collect responses about the management practices for neonates with “straight-forward” hypoplastic left heart syndrome. No attempt was made to correlate management practices with any measures of outcome, as neither the practices themselves, nor the outcomes of interest, could be externally validated. Data is reported from 52 centers thought to manage over 1000 neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome on an annual basis. The first stage of the Norwood sequence was “recommended” to families by approximately five-sixths (86.5%) of the centres. No centre recommended primary cardiac transplantation, a “hybrid” approach, or non-intervention. In 7 centres (14.5%), it was reported that there was discussion of some or all of the above options, but ultimately the families decided upon the appropriate strategy.

Most centres preferentially used antegrade cerebral perfusion (54%) in contrast to deep hypothermia with circulatory arrest (24%), albeit that 11% of centres used a combination of these techniques and in 9% the support strategy was based on surgeon preference. The source of flow of blood for the lungs following the first stage of reconstruction was also highly variable. Of the 51 centres that responded to the question, 13 (25.5%) were participating in a multi-centric randomized clinical trial comparing the modified Blalock-Taussig shunt to the conduit placed from the right ventricle to the pulmonary arteries, the so-called “Sano” modification. Of the remaining 38 centres, 18 “usually” placed a conduit from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery, 14 “usually” placed a modified Blalock-Taussig shunt, and at six centres, the decision was made “based upon the preference of the surgeon and/or the cardiologist”. Similarly, significant variability in practice was evident in preoperative management, other surgical strategies, postoperative medical support, monitoring and discharge planning. Other than the randomized clinical trial of shunt type, no other medical or surgical management strategy was currently under investigation in a multi-centric or randomized trial in the centres who responded to the survey.

The survey emphasises the extreme variability in our current practices for treatment of children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. While there are some areas for which there is consensus in management, the majority of our practices are variable between and within centres. These results emphasize that large multicentric trials and registries are necessary to improve care, and to answer important clinical questions, emphasizing the need to shift from analysis of experiences of single centres to multi-centric and multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Innovation in surgical and medical management of cardiac disease has generated a dramatic improvement in operative survival. Along with these favourable results in terms of survival is the heightened awareness of neurologic complications, which often become evident beyond the early postoperative period. A large, multicentre prospective study found serious neurologic injury occurs in about one-twentieth of patients after myocardial revascularization in adults.1 More subtle evidence of persistent cognitive decline and functional impairment has been shown to occur in over two-fifths of such patients.2 Acute neurologic abnormalities are reported in up to one-fifth of infants and children who undergo cardiac surgery.3–6 Lasting impairments in cognitive, motor, and expressive functioning have been reported in up to three-fifths of children who have undergone complex cardiac surgery during infancy.7 Specifically, gross and fine motor delays, visual-spatial problems, language deficits and long-term emotional and behavioural problems have been found.8–13