General principles of anesthesia in pediatric cardiac surgery

Cardiac anomalies, defined as structural abnormalities of the heart or intrathoracic vessels, taking all the different anatomic forms together, are some of the most common congenital anomalies at birth. It is estimated that between two and 10 in every 1,000 LB are affected by some type of cardiac malformation. One third of those affected have critical cardiac malformations, defined as those that require immediate investigation and treatment, or those that will lead to death during the first year of life. As medicine has advanced and early detection become possible, many of these newborn will survive and contribute to increase the population of adults with congenital heart disease. Currently, there are approximately more than 600 children and adults with congenital heart disease who present for cardiac surgery annually in prince sultan cardiac centre. Those patients have multiple congenital variations leading to an incremental risk for surgical procedures. The aim of this review is to discuss current trends concerning anesthesia in children with congenital heart disease in our center and to share with the readers our clinical profile of anesthesia in pediatric cardiac surgery.