Frequency and Indications for Tracheostomy and Gastrostomy After Congenital Heart Surgery

Patients undergoing congenital heart surgery may occasionally require additional surgical procedures in the form of tracheostomy and gastrostomy. These procedures are often performed in an attempt to diminish hospital morbidity and length of stay. We reviewed the Web-based medical records of all patients undergoing congenital heart surgery at Miami Children’s Hospital from February 2002 through August 2007. Patients who were deemed preterm and had undergone closure of a patent ductus arteriosis were eliminated. The records of all other patients were queried for the terms gastrostomy, g-tube, Nissan, fundal plication, tracheostomy, or tracheotomy. Patients’ medical records in which these terms appeared in any portion were completely reviewed. There were 1660 congenital heart operations performed in the study period. There were 592 operations performed on patients whose age ranged from 1 month to 1 year and 441 neonatal operations. Mortality was 2%. Median postoperative stay was 8 days (range, 1–191 days), 12 days for neonates (range, 3–142 days), and 19 days for neonates undergoing RACHS-1 category 6 operations (range, 4–142 days). Tracheostomies were performed in four patients (0.2%). Gastrostomies were performed on eight patients (0.4%), representing 0.8% of patients