48 years of interventional treatment of cardiovascular diseases at the Children’s Heart Centre

Czech version

Authors: Václav Chaloupecký
Published in: Čes-slov Pediat 2025; 80 (3): 127-131.
Category: Review
doi: https://doi.org/10.55095/CSPediatrie2025/014

Overview

Chaloupecký V. 48 years of interventional treatment of cardiovascular diseases at the Children’s Heart Centre

This review article summarizes the early and long-term results of interventional treatment of congenital heart disease (CHD) at the Children’s Heart Centre. Between 1977 and 2024, a total of 7,027 interventional cardiac catheterizations and 17,182 cardiac surgeries, including 43 heart transplants, were performed in 19,120 individuals, of whom 17,323 (90.6%) had congenital heart disease and 1,797 (9.4%) had primary dysrhythmias and/or acquired heart disease. Early postoperative mortality has been around 1% over the last 20 years.

Long-term prognosis was evaluated in 13,348 children with CHD born between 1978 and 2020, who underwent a total of 14,408 cardiac surgeries and 4,565 interventional cardiac catheterizations during the same time period. The probability of survival at 10, 20, 30 and 40 years after the first intervention was 84.8%, 82.5%, 79.4% and 77.7% in the group of 4,419 individuals with complex CHD and 96.2%, 95.1%, 93.9% and 91.9% in the group of 8,929 individuals with other CHD (HR 3.8: CI 3.4 4.3; p < 0.001). At the end of year 2020, a total of 5,915 children and 6,263 adults were alive after cardiovascular intervention at the Children’s Heart Centre, of whom 1,868 (31.6%) children and 1,796 (28.7%) adults had complex CHD.

Conclusion. In the population of the Czech Republic, the number of adults with complex congenital heart disease after cardiovascular interventions in childhood is increasing. Dispensing and follow-up of these individuals in specialized centers for adults with congenital heart disease are essential.

Keywords:

cardiac surgery – Congenital heart defects – interventional cardiac catheterization – long-term prognosis

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