[First year's experience of the Post-Operative Cardiac Care Unit, Schneider Children's Medical Center].

In the past 10 years there has been a growing preference for early, complete correction of congenital heart disease. The first year of operation of this cardiac unit is described. 216 operations were performed: 15% in the neonatal age group and 35% in the newborn to 1-year-old groups; 2% were palliative procedures. Mortality was 4.9%. Average stay in the ICU was 3.2 days, with a median of 2.25. Average length of ventilation was 35 hours, with a median of 17.5. Complications were: diaphragm paralysis in 13 (6%), 2/3 of which were recurrent operations; in 2 patients (0.9%) we had to plicate the diaphragm. There was severe neurological damage in 2 which deteriorated to brain death in 1. There was peripheral, reversible neurological damage in 4 (1.8%), and acute renal failure in 3%, with half of them requiring dialysis. 75% of these children died and there was superficial infection in 4.1%, deep wound infection in 1.3%, bacteremia in 4.1%, superior vena cava syndrome in 3 (1.3%) and chylothorax in 2 of them (0.9%). 1 patient (0.45%) required a ventricle-peritoneal shunt after acute viral meningitis. We are encouraged by our results to offer early complete correction to all children with congenital heart disease.