BMJ  2004;328:594-595 (13 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7440.594

Editorial

Congenital heart disease

Monitoring interventions after Bristol

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Children in the United Kingdom with congenital heart disease undergo surgery and catheter based interventions with a very high probability of survival as counted at 30 days and one year, according to data from the United Kingdom's central cardiac audit database.¹ The publication of these excellent results concerning a high profile area of practice prompts a reflection on the issues surrounding the collection and validation of clinical data and the methods used to evaluate outcomes.

To keep a tally of operations and their outcome, to have these results available for reflection, to be shared with colleagues, and for inspection by others, should be a simple matter and entirely appropriate.² Compared with, for example, the long term, multiple, and relatively subjective outcomes of cleft lip and palate correction, cardiac surgery is a readily countable activity—each operation is a major event, and death is an absolute and objective outcome. But doing this . . . [Full text of this article]

Cardiothoracic Unit, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT (tom.treasure@medix-uk.com)

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Survival after surgery or therapeutic catheterisation for congenital heart disease in children in the United Kingdom: analysis of the central cardiac audit database for 2000-1

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• Kang, N., Tsang, V. T., Gallivan, S., Sherlaw-Johnson, C., Cole, T. J., Elliott, M. J., de Leval, M. R. (2006). Quality assurance in congenital heart surgery.. Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg. 29: 693-697 [Abstract] [Full text]