New approach to interstage care for palliated high-risk patients with congenital heart disease.

Objective: Home surveillance monitoring might identify patients at risk for interstage death after stage 1 palliation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome. We sought to identify the effect that a high-risk program might have on interstage mortality and identification of residual/recurrent lesions after neonatal palliative operations.

Methods: Between January 2006 to January 2010, newborns after stage 1 palliation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome or shunt placement were invited to participate in our high-risk program.

Interventional catheterization performed in the early postoperative period after congenital heart surgery in children.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the safety and efficacy of interventional catheterization performed early after congenital heart surgery.

Background: Transcatheter interventions performed in the early postoperative period are viewed as high risk. To date, there have been limited published data regarding these procedures.