USE OF CARDIAC-CATHETERIZATION IN PEDIATRIC CARDIAC SURGICAL DECISIONS

Current practice patterns relating to pediatric cardiac catheterizatio n (Cath) have considerable economic implications. The decreased cost a nd risk of noninvasive methods such as echocardiography (ECHO) and mag netic resonance imaging (MRI) make them attractive alternative diagnos tic methods if they can sufficiently define cardiac anatomy and the ne ed for surgical intervention. We reviewed a recent cardiac surgical se ries of 465 cases in 1.5 years to determine how often a Cath was perfo rmed prior to surgery. Overall, 59.4 % of the procedures were preceded by a Cath (76 % of open heart operations, and 26.7 % of closed heart operations). We specify the situations where we feel enough informatio n is available for preoperative decision making from non-invasive test ing, and we present some diagnostic pitfalls that have been encountere d.