Cardiac surgery in Germany during 2004: a report on behalf of the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular...

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Surgery
• Public Health

Background:

• The German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery maintains a voluntary registry for cardiac surgical procedures.
• Cardiac surgery data collection is crucial for quality assessment and tracking trends.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a comprehensive overview of cardiac surgical procedures performed in Germany in 2004.
• To monitor the quality and development of cardiac surgery based on registry data.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from a voluntary registry of 79 German cardiac surgical units.
• Inclusion of all cardiac surgical procedures, excluding ICD and pacemaker insertions.
• Data collection for the year 2004, with comparisons to 2003.

Main Results:

• A total of 100,830 cardiac surgical procedures were reported in 2004, a 1.1% increase from 2003.
• Over 7.8% of patients undergoing cardiac surgery were older than 80 years.
• Hospital mortality for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) was 2.8% (7.1% off-pump), and 4.5% for isolated valve procedures.

Conclusions:

• The voluntary registry serves as a vital tool for continuous quality monitoring in German cardiac surgery.
• The data illustrates the ongoing development and scope of cardiac surgical interventions in Germany.