STS 2023 DAY 3 — Today is your chance to give input as cardiothoracic surgeons work to establish vital guidelines in pediatric surgery for congenital heart defects. Several of the nation's foremost surgeons will present their studies to date that will be the foundation for STS practice guidelines and consensus documents.
On Monday, January 23 at 11:55 a.m. PT, Jeffrey P. Jacobs, MD, a professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and Tara Karamlou, MD, MSc, from Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, will chair the highly collaborative session "It's All About the Data—Evidence Based Guidelines for Congenital Heart Surgery."
These and other surgeons involved in the multi-institutional research want your feedback. This session will showcase the extensive research conducted to date by the Evidence Based Task Force for Congenital Heart Surgery and offer participants opportunities to contribute their own insights.
Dr. Jacobs leads the task force, which is undertaking three projects where consensus on optimal care approaches does not exist:
- Strategies for Left Ventricular Recruitment in Neonates and Borderline in Left Heart Structures, chaired by Dr. Karamlou, Bahaaldin Alsoufi, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Norton’s Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, and Eric Feins, MD, from Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts.
- Management of Neonates and Infants with Coarctation, chaired by Elizabeth Stephens, MD, PhD from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and Hani Najm, MD, from Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
- Indications and Timing of Pulmonary Valve Replacement in Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot, chaired by Jennifer Nelson, MD, from Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Florida, and James St. Louis, MD, Section Chief of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery from Children’s Hospital of Georgia in Augusta.
"It has truly been an honor for me to observe the dedication and professionalism of these STS leaders as they pursued, with great scientific rigor, the best answers available to three very challenging clinical dilemmas," Dr. Jacobs says. "I am certain that the tremendous effort devoted to these studies will generate important knowledge that will ultimately improve the lives of many babies and children with congenital heart disease."
These initiatives followed the call in 2022 by STS President John Calhoon, MD, to improve cardiothoracic surgery across the world. From there, the STS Workforce on Evidence Based Surgery created three Task Forces addressing some of the most pressing and unanswered surgical issues, including the congenital heart surgery group.
Research presented today will lead to publication of an STS Clinical Practice Guideline in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery and two STS Expert Consensus documents later this year.