High-volume centers yield better outcomes in certain cardiac catheterization procedures

In patients with congenital heart disease undergoing cardiac catheterization, major adverse events were highest in centers with the lowest volume, according to new data from the IMPACT registry.

Researchers studied the relationship between volume of cardiac catheterization procedures and major adverse events in patients with congenital heart disease based on data from the IMPACT registry for procedures performed between 2011 and March 2015. They presented their findings at Cardiology 2016, the 19th Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease.

“Although the risk [for major adverse events] after cardiac catheterization in patients with [congenital heart disease] is low at all hospitals, it is higher among hospitals with fewer than 150 cases annually,” Natalie M. Jayaram, MD, pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas City, Missouri, and colleagues wrote in an abstract. “These results support the notion that performing congenital cardiac catheterization procedures at higher-volume centers may be associated with improved patient outcomes.”

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