Recent Surgical Outcomes of Congenital Heart Disease according to Korea Heart Foundation Data

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study presents an update of the surgical outcomes of congenital heart disease (CHD) according to Korea Heart Foundation (KHF) data. METHODS: We investigated the data of the 7,305 patients who were economically supported by KHF in 2000–2014. Of them, we analyzed surgical outcomes of the 6,599 patients who underwent CHD surgery. RESULTS: The median patient age was 1.9 years (range, 0–71.5 years). Of the 6,599 patients, 5,616 (85.1%) underwent biventricular repair and 983 (14.9%) underwent palliative procedures. The mean Basic Aristotle Score was 6.6±2.2. A complex procedure (defined as Basic Aristotle Score above 6) was performed in 3,368 patients (51.0%). The early mortality rate was 3.8%, while the late mortality rate was 1.8%. Previous reports of the KHF (1984–1999) showed that the early surgical and late mortality rates were 8.6%, and 5.3%, respectively. There were 491 neonates (7.4%); among them, the early mortality rate was 12.2% and late mortality rate was 3.7%. There were 2,617 infants (40.0%); among them, the early mortality rate was 6.0% and the late mortality rate was 2.3%. A total of 591 patients from 30 countries were helped by the KHF. CONCLUSIONS: More neonatal surgeries (491 vs. 74 patients) were performed than those in the past (1984–1999). The surgical outcomes were much better than before. Our surgical outcomes revealed that the Republic of Korea has been transformed from a country receiving help to a country that helps other low socioeconomic status countries.