Objective: As more children with congenital heart disease (CHD) grow into adulthood, we are gaining critical insights from our extensive experience in performing cardiac surgery for this population. This report details our six-year experience at a single center, highlighting short-term outcomes and in-hospital mortality rates.

Methods: We collected data on all consecutive patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) who underwent surgery between July 2018 and September 2024, in the Cardiac Surgery Department, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Pakistan. We evaluated early outcomes, including duration of ventilation, length of ICU stays, total hospital stays, and mortality rates.

Results: A total of 250 procedures were performed on patients, with a mean age of 22.98 years; 48.4% were male and 51.6% were female. Re-do procedures accounted for 2.4% of the cases. The most common procedures involved septal defects (43.8%), right heart lesions (19.2%), and thoracic artery and vein surgeries (16.8%). While the primary procedures primarily involved less complex cases, they included 15.2% tetralogy of Fallot repairs, 4.0% aortic coarctation repairs, and 1.2% repairs for Ebstein’s disease. In-hospital mortality was recorded at 1.6%, with an overall survival rate of 98.4%.

Conclusion: surgery in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) can be performed with low operative mortality and favorable clinical outcomes. Our findings demonstrate that, despite the complexities inherent in this population, the majority of procedures yield successful results, contributing to a high overall survival rate. This underscores the importance of specialized surgical approaches and ongoing management for patients with CHD, highlighting the potential for positive long-term outcomes in this growing demographic.

Keywords: Congenital heart disease, Cardiac surgery, short-term outcome.

Dr. Muhammad Aasim completed his MBBS / MD at the age of 24 years from Khyber Medical College (KMC) University of Peshawar, Pakistan; and FCPS (Fellow of the College of Physician & Surgeons of Pakistan) in Cardiac Surgery from the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) at the age of 33years. He is the Chairman of the Cardiac Surgery Department in Hayatabad Medical Complex & Asso. Professor of Cardiac Surgery at Khyber Girls Medical College, Peshawar, Pakistan. He has pioneered and established his Department in MTI-HMC, Peshawar Pakistan, and been pivotal in establishing many Cardiovascular and thoracic surgery services in Pakistan & Afghanistan.

He has operated several thousands of open-heart surgeries, thoracic surgeries, and vascular surgeries for the right indications of saving precious human lives, as an independent operating Cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon with his dedicated team. He is the Director of FCPS training in Cardiac Surgery and Supervisor of CPSP in Pakistan. CPSP is the National Supreme Organization for Medical Qualifications in Pakistan. He has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of reputed journals.