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Pediatric cardiac anesthesia in the developing world
Author(s) -
Doherty Catherine,
Holtby Helen
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
pediatric anesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.704
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1460-9592
pISSN - 1155-5645
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9592.2010.03492.x
Subject(s) - medicine , perioperative , safer , developing country , specialty , cardiac surgery , heart disease , intensive care medicine , disease , anesthesia , surgery , family medicine , cardiology , computer security , computer science , economics , economic growth
Summary More children die of congenital heart disease (CHD) in low‐income countries and acquired cardiac disease is more frequent. Advances in diagnosis, surgery, perfusion and anesthesia in the developed world have had dramatic results on children’s lives, and many forms of CHD can now be safely corrected or palliated. However, in developing countries, for the children who receive cardiac surgery, perioperative mortality and morbidity remain high. Pediatric cardiac anesthesia is a specialty in its infancy worldwide, and in developing countries, it is often nonexistent. Visiting ‘specialists’ as part of medical mission teams often provides anesthesia, but the hope for the future is that local staff will be trained in pediatric cardiac anesthesia and collaborative regional cardiac centers will be the mainstay of care, offering safer surgery to more children.