Abstract
Background: Cardiac catheterization after congenital heart surgery may play an important role in the diagnosis and
management of patients with a complicated or unusual post-operative course. The main objective of this study was to
evaluate the safety, efficacy, and outcome of cardiac catheterization performed in the early post-operative period
following congenital heart surgery. All patients who underwent cardiac catheterization after congenital heart surgery
during the same admission of cardiac surgery from November 2015 to May 2018 were included in the study.
Results: Thirty procedures were performed for 27 patients (20 interventional and 10 diagnostic). The median age of
the patients was 15 months (15 days to 20 years), median weight was 8.2 kg (3.4 to 53 kg), and median time from
surgery was 3 days (0–32 days). Eleven procedures were performed for 11 patients on extracorporeal membrane
oxygenation (ECMO) support. The main indications for catheterization included the inability to wean from ECMO (10
procedures) and cyanosis (10 procedures). Interventional procedures included angioplasty using stents (10 procedures,
success rate of 90%), angioplasty using only balloons (2 procedures, success rate of 50%), and occlusion for residual
shunts (8 procedures, success rate of 100%). No mortality was recorded during any procedure. Vasoactive–inotropic
score had significantly decreased 48 h after catheterization when compared to pre-catheterization scores (p = 0.0001).
Moreover, 72% of patients connected to ECMO support were successfully weaned from ECMO after catheterization.
Procedural complications were recorded in 3 interventional procedures. Survival to hospital discharge was 55.5% and
overall survival was 52%. Patients on ECMO support had a higher mortality than other patients.
Conclusion: Cardiac catheterization can be performed safely in the early post-operative period, and it could improve
the outcome of the patient (depending on the complexity of the cardiac lesions involved).