Original articleCongenital heart surgeryNecessity of Temporary Epicardial Pacing Wires After Surgery for Congenital Heart Disease
Section snippets
Study Population
Our study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center. We performed a prospective observational study of all patients admitted to the intensive care unit at Children's Hospital of Michigan after surgery for congenital heart disease from October 2011 to October 2012. Patients who either had a permanent pacemaker in place before surgery or who underwent pacemaker implantation during their surgery were excluded.
Operative Protocol
Our operative protocol has
Results
During the study, 249 patients met the inclusion criteria. The most common primary procedures performed in this cohort were the following: repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) or TOF-type physiology (n = 28); repair of isolated ventricular septal defect (n = 27); cavopulmonary anastomoses (n = 20); repair of complete atrioventricular septal defect (n = 13); pulmonary valve replacement post-TOF (n = 12); repair of isolated atrial septal defect (n = 10); repair of partial atrioventricular septal
Comment
Placement of temporary epicardial pacing wires after surgery for congenital heart disease in both children and adults for management of postoperative arrhythmias has been commonplace for many years. The frequency of wire placement reported in the literature however, is variable, from placement of 1.2% in 1 center, as reported by Fishberger and colleagues [5], to 72% to 81% at other centers 4, 5, 6, 7. In these latter studies, temporary pacing wires were categorized as clinically useful in 23%
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Use, complications and predictors of temporary epicardial pacemakers after open heart surgery in children
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2020, European Journal of Cardio-thoracic SurgeryArrhythmias: Diagnosis and Management
2015, Anesthesia for Congenital Heart Disease: Third Edition