Outcomes - Penn State Children's Hospital

Surgical outcomes, including survival rates and length-of-stay in the hospital, are important factors to consider when you have a child who needs surgery. Families can rest assured that the trusted team at Children’s Hospital provides congenital heart surgery and postoperative care, with outcomes that surpass national averages.

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Top hospital for congenital heart disease

Some 40,000 babies are born with congenital heart disease each year, with many requiring surgery. But until recently, it’s been hard for families to identify high-quality pediatric heart centers or individual surgeons.

Click here to learn more about Penn State Children’s Hospital overall congenital heart surgery performance.

Pediatric heart surgical outcomes

The pediatric heart surgery program has been recognized nationally for outstanding surgical results. In a recent report, covering 2014-2017, including 117 institutions, Penn State Children’s Hospital was one of eleven programs to receive a 3-star rating, the highest possible, from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). This rating recognizes that survival after surgery was significantly higher than expected.

The STS congenital heart surgery database is a national registry that collects and analyzes patient outcomes associated with the repair of congenital heart defects.

This figure shows risk-adjusted survival for four age groups: neonates less than 1 month, infants less than 1 year, children less than 18 years and finally all patients, including adults with congenital heart disease. The risk-adjusted survival at Children’s Hospital for infants, children, and patients overall is significantly better than the national average. — This figure shows risk-adjusted survival for four age groups: neonates less than 1 month, infants less than 1 year, children less than 18 years and finally all patients, including adults with congenital heart disease. The risk-adjusted survival at Children’s Hospital for infants, neonates, children, and patients overall is significantly better than the national average.

Congenital heart operations are ranked into five categories based upon expected survival. Operations with the highest expected survival are in Risk Category 1, and those with the lowest expected survival are in Risk Category 5. Children’s Hospital performs very well across all levels, especially for patients having complex operations in the higher risk categories.

The STS report pays particular attention to a group of ten “benchmark” operations that are believed to represent of the quality of a program. This analysis allows families to see how programs perform in the management of specific heart defects. As shown, Children’s Hospital performs very well across the spectrum of congenital heart operations.

Length of stay describes how many days a patient is in the hospital after surgery. Many experts consider length of stay to be a marker of the quality of the initial operation and of the subsequent care following surgery. Length of stay can also reflect the efficiency and expertise of a heart center in the management of the overall recovery process. Patients at Children’s Hospital experience lengths of stay that are roughly half as long as national norms for most benchmark operations.