B. L. Mejak et al.: J Extra Corpor Technol 2025, 57, 66 – 73 71
Figure
3. Perfusionist comparison report showing box plot of CPB fluid balance for a list of perfusionists from a given institution.
Institutional reports return values for the same measures as found in the blinded site reports( Figure 2). However, this data is specific to the individual institution. In these reports, the center’ s clinical champion can drill down to specific cases, facilitating granular data investigation for each participating site. Institutional data is only visible to the specific institution that submitted the record.
The perfusionist comparison report, like the institutional report, only provides data for the institution. Data can be broken down to specific perfusionists( Figures 3 and 4). This visualization provides a center with valuable information regarding internal practice variation. Utilizing this data, a perfusion department can improve quality and reduce practice variation within their practice.
Participating in the PLN registry costs above $ 7,250 at the time of publication. Arbormetrix charges $ 5,250 annually for the dashboard and the report generating software. PLN charges $ 2,000 a year which is split to fund a project manager at Cincinnati Children’ s Hospital and fund data managers and data storage at the University of Michigan. The costs of the CardioAccess and Lumedx modules are set by those said companies and can be different amongst participating centers. One of the participating centers uses its own internal software and submits directly to Arbormetrix, bypassing the costs of CardioAccess or Lumedx altogether.
Discussion
Congenital CPB surgeries account for a low percentage of all cardiac cases performed in the United States. With over 5,000 surgical variations to repair congenital defects a range of patient size from less than 1 kg to greater than 100 kg, and an average of 200 procedures being performed in most US centers, the ability to obtain sufficient data to extract meaningful statistical observations is quite difficult. The need to combine congenital heart surgery data has been shown to be beneficial by many registries.
The STS database has been instrumental in defining and enhancing risk adjustment categories and mortality rates by pooling data from nearly all US centers and European registries [ 7 ]. The latest data harvest of the STS Congenital Heart Surgeon’ s Database includes a four-year period from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022 [ 8 ]. Besides the enhancements to risk assessments, mortality, risk stratifications, and center size success rates, many other observations and conclusions can be surmised from this set of combined center data.
As an example of how this data can be utilized, Waldman and Ing commented on how anesthesia can use the STS database. They found that operation room tracheal extubation success occurred in children( 53 %) versus neonates, infants,