Short-Term Surgical Outcomes and Definitive Diagnosis in Patients With Congenital Cardiac Defects: A Single-Center Analysis

Background With the rising number of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) reaching adulthood, surgical intervention has become a critical aspect of their long-term management. This study presents a six-year overview of early postoperative outcomes and mortality in CHD surgeries at a single center, underscoring advancements and challenges in treating this complex population. Objective As more children with CHD grow into adulthood, we are gaining critical insights from our extensive experience in performing cardiac surgery for this population. This report details our six-year experience at a single center, highlighting short-term outcomes and in-hospital mortality rates. Methods We collected data on all consecutive patients with CHD who underwent surgery between July 2018 and September 2024 in the Cardiac Surgery Department at Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Pakistan. We evaluated early outcomes, including ventilation duration, length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, total hospital stay, and mortality rates. Results A total of 250 procedures were performed on patients, with a mean age of 22.98 years (Range 1-78 years); 48.4% were male and 51.6% were female. Re-do procedures accounted for 2.4% of the total procedures. The most common procedures involved repair of septal defects (43.8%), right heart lesions (19.2%), and thoracic arterial and venous surgeries (16.8%). While the primary procedures involved less complex cases, they included 15.2% tetralogy of Fallot repairs, 4.0% aortic coarctation repairs, and 1.2% repairs for Ebstein's disease. In-hospital mortality was recorded at 1.6%, with an overall survival rate of 98.4%. Conclusion Surgery in patients with CHD can be performed with low operative mortality and favorable clinical outcomes. Our findings demonstrate that, despite the complexities inherent to this population, most procedures yield successful results, contributing to a high overall survival rate. This underscores the importance of specialized surgical approaches and continuous management for CHD patients, emphasizing the potential for positive long-term outcomes in this growing demographic.