CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2021; 69(S 03): e21-e31
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1722978
Pediatric and Congenital Cardiology

German Registry for Cardiac Operations and Interventions in Patients with Congenital Heart Disease: Report 2020—Comprehensive Data from 6 Years of Experience

Andreas Beckmann
1   German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus, Berlin, Germany
,
2   Pediatric Cardiology Department, University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
,
C. Arenz
3   German Pediatric Heart Center, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
,
O.N. Krogmann
4   Clinic for Pediatric Cardiology—Congenital Heart Defects, Heart Center Duisburg, Duisburg, Germany
,
A. Horke
5   Division of Congenital Heart Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
,
A. Tengler
6   Division of Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Intensive Care; Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
,
R. Meyer
7   BQS Institute for Quality and Patient Safety, Hamburg, Germany
,
U. M. M. Bauer
8   National Register for Congenital Heart Defects, Berlin, Germany
,
M. Hofbeck
9   Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Pulmology and Intensive Care, University Children's Hospital, Tübingen, Germany
,
German Quality Assurance / Competence Network for Congenital Heart Defects Investigators
› Author Affiliations
Funding The responsible bodies for the registry are the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the German Society for Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Defects. The registry receives financial support by all participating institutions and donations from the German Heart Foundation (DHS).

Abstract

Background Based on a quality assurance initiative of the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (DGTHG) and the German Society for Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Defects (DGPK), a voluntary registry was founded for assessment of treatment and outcomes of patients with congenital heart disease in Germany. This evaluation by the German Registry for cardiac operations and interventions in patients with congenital heart disease reports the data and the outcome over a 6-year period in patients undergoing invasive treatment.

Methods This real-world database collects clinical characteristics, in-hospital complications, and medium-term outcome of patients who underwent cardiac surgical and interventional procedures within the prospective, all-comers registry. Patients were followed-up for up to 90 days.

Results In the period from 2013 to 2018, a total of 35,730 patients, 39,875 cases, respectively 46,700 procedures were included at up to 31 German institutions. The cases could be subcategorized according to the treatment intention into 21,027 (52.7%) isolated operations, 17,259 (43.3%) isolated interventions, and 1,589 (4.0%) with multiple procedures. Of these, 4,708 (11.8%) were performed in neonates, 10,047 (25.2%) in infants, 19,351 (48.5%) in children of 1 to 18 years, and 5,769 (14.5%) in adults. Also, 15,845 (33.9%) cases could be allocated to so-called index procedures which underwent a more detailed evaluation to enable meaningful comparability. The mean unadjusted in-hospital mortality of all cases in our registry ranged from 0.3% in patients with isolated interventions and 2.0% in patients with surgical procedures up to 9.1% in patients undergoing multiple procedures.

Conclusion This annually updated registry of both scientific societies represents voluntary public reporting by accumulating actual information for surgical and interventional procedures in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) in Germany. It describes advancements in cardiac medicine and is a basis for internal and external quality assurance for all participating institutions. In addition, the registry demonstrates that in Germany, both interventional and surgical procedures for treatment of CHD are offered with high medical quality.



Publication History

Received: 10 December 2020

Accepted: 11 December 2020

Article published online:
26 February 2021

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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