Peri- and Post-operative Amplitude-integrated Electroencephalography in Infants with Congenital Heart Disease.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the factors influencing brain injury in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) after cardiac surgery.

METHODS

This retrospective study investigated 103 infants with CHD undergoing cardiac surgery between January 2013 and February 2016. Pre- and postoperative amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) recordings were assessed for background pattern, sleep-wake cycle pattern and seizure activity. Logistic regression model was used to determine the influencing factors of brain injury.

RESULTS

Pre-operatively, most infants in our study exhibited a normal background pattern, with 16.5% showing discontinuous normal voltage, whereas this pattern was observed in only 7.8% of infants postoperatively. The improvement in background pattern after surgery was significant (P<0.05) in infants at no more than 39 weeks of gestational age. Infants with postoperative sepsis or severe postoperative infection were prone to show a worse sleep-wake cycle pattern after heart surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

The improvement in brain function of infants with CHD after cardiac surgery was associated with the gestational age and postoperative infection.