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Updated: Apr 20, 2026

Implantation of Total Artificial Heart in Congenital Heart Disease
Published on: July 18, 2014
Challenges in trying to implement an early intervention program for infants with congenital heart disease
Suzanne H Long1, Beverley J Eldridge, Susan R Harris
1Heart Research Group (Drs Long and Cheung), Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Physiotherapy (Dr Eldridge), Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Physiotherapy (Dr Eldridge), Melbourne School of Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Physical Therapy (Dr Harris), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Department of Cardiology (Dr Cheung), Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Paediatrics (Dr Cheung), University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Purpose:
To describe challenges in trying to implement a physical therapy-based early intervention program for infants with congenital heart disease.
Methods:
Neonates with cyanotic congenital heart disease who had elective or emergency cardiac surgery at age 28 days or less participated in the study. Families were offered hospital-based physical therapy intervention from infant age of 3 months. Feasibility and efficacy of intervention were to be evaluated at 8 months.
Results:
Study recruitment was protracted and then stopped. Anticipated sample size was limited by survival (86%) and recruitment rates (75%); cardiorespiratory and neurological complications led to lengthy admissions, precluding study participation. In addition, geographic constraints and families' general take-up of the services offered limited ability of those recruited to receive intervention at planned frequency and intensity.
Conclusions:
Overall, data collected demonstrated infeasibility to evaluate effectiveness of hospital-based physical therapy intervention for this cohort of infants. Nonetheless, valuable data were gathered about factors leading to nonparticipation.
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