Pediatric anesthesia & critical care
Clinical Outcomes of Delayed Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Catheterizations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned From a Capacity Crisis
Authors' conclusion
Careful triage protocols and pandemic-related changes in workflow allowed for safe postponement of congenital cardiac procedures despite higher medical complexity in delayed patients.
Study context
- Population
- Pediatric patients with congenital heart disease whose cardiac procedures were delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, tertiary pediatric heart center, March 11 to June 8, 2020
- Exposure
- Congenital heart disease procedures delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic vs prepandemic controls
- Delayed surgicaln = 87
- Delayed catheterizationn = 126
- Outcome
- Periprocedural outcomes
Methodological detailsmatched cohort (1:2), single tertiary centre
- Matched cohort (1:2)
- Single tertiary centre
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Delayed surgical: cross-clamp time 142 v 130 minutes (p = 0.017)
- Delayed surgical: postoperative ventilation time 6.9 v 14.1 hours (p = 0.001)
- Delayed surgical: postoperative stay 5.1 v 6.5 days (p = 0.001)
- Delayed catheterization: preprocedural admissions 4% v 17.5% (p = 0.001)
- Delayed catheterization: slightly higher inotropic scores
- Delayed catheterization: ICU admissions 5.6% v 12.3% (p = 0.046)
- Matched cohort
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
- Preoperative death in a surgical patient pending transfer
- 1
- Otherwise mortality and adverse event rates similar between groups
Original publication
Clinical Outcomes of Delayed Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Catheterizations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned From a Capacity Crisis. J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. Published 30 June 2026. doi:10.
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