Korean J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg.  2001 Jan;34(1):41-44.

Congenital Heart Surgery with Fast Track Hospital Discharge

• Lee JR
• Jeong DS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recently, reports show that minimally invasive cardiac surgery is effective in shortening the hospital stay. We reviewed the patients who underwent repair of their congenital heart anomalies under ministernotomy approach and were discharged within 5 days. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In this study, we included two groups : Group I were 29 patients who underwent minimally invasive cardiac surgery from November 1998 to July 1999(FT group), and Group II were 29 patients who underwent cardiac surgery via median sternotomy from January 1997 to May 1997(conventional group). We compared these two groups. All patients had similar disease categories and underwent the operation by the same surgeon. RESULT: The mean hospital stay in FT group was significantly shorter than conventional group(4.5 vs. 9.1 days, p<0.05, n=29). No complications were found. However, the total mean hospital cost did not reach statistical difference(7,333,184 vs. 7,486,136 won, p>0.05, n=29).
CONCLUSION
Our protocol of fast track hospital discharge could shorten the hospital stay without complications. However, the economic benefit remains to be determined.

Keyword

Fast track; Minimally invasive surgry

MeSH Terms

Heart*
Hospital Costs
Humans
Length of Stay
Sternotomy
Thoracic Surgery*