Impact of dedicated perioperative care in neonatal cardiac surgery

Many cardiac surgical centers have created dedicated pediatric cardiac intensive care units (CICU) in the last few years. This policy was based on the idea that highly specialized teams are more able to reduce mortality and morbidity, especially in young children. Nevertheless, studies that assessed the impact of specialized perioperative care gave conflicting results (1,2). Considering also the specific constraints (financial, personnel resources, surgical volume, etc.) of each center, the location of perioperative care in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) still varies between and within institutions.