National Adult Cardiac Surgery Registry: past, present and future.

A task force commission was created with the support of the Portuguese Society for Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery with the aim of organizing a National Adult Cardiac Surgery Registry, collecting clinical data and types of cardiac surgical procedure performed in Portugal. Selected variables include risk factors, cardiac status, preoperative hemodynamics, surgical procedure, hospital stay and mortality. Information is collected into a database in each institution and sent via the internet to a central database responsible for grouping and data analysis. It is hoped that this National Registry, through standardized data collection, will provide information on cardiac surgery activity in Portugal and its risk adjusted results.