2.4 Outcomes
The following patient characteristics were examined: age, sex, height,
weight, chromosomal abnormality, risk adjustment in congenital heart
surgery8, pediatric Sequential Organ Failure
Assessment score9 within 24 hours after surgery, age
at diagnosis, duration from diagnosis to surgery, indication for
surgery, mechanical ventilation management until the date of surgery,
and disease background, which included presence of comorbid cardiac
disease and total length of tracheal stenosis.
Surgery-related factors such as duration of the operation and CPB,
presence of simultaneous cardiopulmonary and tracheal surgery, tracheal
bifurcation plasty, administration of postoperative muscle relaxants,
and timing of postoperative enteral feeding initiation were examined.
The duration of CPB was influenced by the total intraoperative duration,
including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), because surgery
for tracheal stenosis alone can be performed under ECMO. Outcomes
including anastomotic leakage, 28-day ventilator-free days (VFD),
tracheostomy, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) events that occurred
from the postoperative period to the first discharge, and mortality were
evaluated. Anastomotic leakage was defined as tracheal leakage that
required an additional surgical procedure at the anastomosis site.