The role of preoperative head ultrasound in the prediction of outcome in infants undergoing surgery for congenital heart surgery

Background; A significant proportion of infants undergoing open-heart surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD) manifest preoperative neurobehavioral abnormalities. MRI studies have demonstrated that cerebral injury can occur preoperatively. However, most centers only perform cerebral ultrasound (cUS) preoperatively. Its sensitivity in detecting cerebral abnormalities and predicting postoperative outcome has not been determined for this population. Methods; Prospective cohort study on 282 infants who were operated before 12 months of age. cUS was obtained in 127 infants preoperatively. Neurological examination…