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Pediatric heart surgery - Risks

Alternative Names

Heart surgery - pediatric; Heart surgery for children; Acquired heart disease, Heart valve surgery - children

Risks:

Hospitals and medical centers that perform heart surgery on children have surgeons, nurses, and technicians who are specially trained to perform these surgeries. They also have staff who will take care of your child after surgery.

Risks for any surgery are:

Bleeding during surgery or in the days after surgery
Bad reactions to medicines
Problems breathing
Infection

Additional risks of heart surgery are:

Blood clots (thrombi)
Air bubbles (air emboli)
Pneumonia
Heartbeat problems (arrhythmias)
Heart attack
Stroke

Reviewed last on: 11/22/2010
David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc., and Michael A. Chen, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, Washington.

References

Recommendations for preparing children and adolescents for invasive cardiac procedures: A statement from the American Heart Association Pediatric Nursing Subcommittee of the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing in collaboration with the Council on Cardiovascular Diseases of the Young. Circulation. 2003;108:2250-2564.

Webb GD, Smallhorn JF, Therrien J, Redington AN. Congenital heart disease. In: Zipes DP, Libby P, Bonow RO, Braunwald E, eds. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, 8th ed. St. Louis, Mo; WB Saunders; 2007:chap 61.

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