Computerized outcomes analysis for congenital heart disease.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This paper reviews the past year's literature on computerized outcomes analysis for congenital heart disease.

RECENT FINDINGS

This review focuses on recent advances in four areas of computerized outcomes analysis for congenital heart disease: nomenclature, database, complexity adjustment, and data verification. A common nomenclature, along with a common core minimal dataset, were adopted by the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and published in 2000 in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery; the thrust towards the establishment of an international nomenclature is now being developed further by the International Society for Nomenclature of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease [http://www.IPCCC.net]. This common nomenclature and common minimum database dataset, created by the International Congenital Heart Surgery Nomenclature and Database Project, are now used by the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery and Society of Thoracic Surgeons since 1998, this nomenclature and database have been used to analyze outcomes of over 40 000 patients. Two major multi-institutional efforts have attempted to measure case complexity: the Risk Adjustment in Congenital Heart Surgery-1 and the Aristotle Complexity Score. Collaborative efforts involving the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery and Society of Thoracic Surgeons are underway to develop mechanisms to verify data completeness and accuracy.

SUMMARY

Methods of congenital heart disease outcomes analysis continue to evolve, with continued advances in four areas: nomenclature, database, complexity adjustment, and data verification.