LAUSR

Medical decision-making for infants with trisomy 13 and 18 has many complicating factors, but how to approach surgical treatment of congenital heart defects has been a major issue. Kosiv et al1 have made a significant contribution to our understanding through their comprehensive analysis of outcomes from a large number of infants with these conditions identified in the Pediatric Health Information System database. The database includes information from most large children’s hospitals in the United States and allows for the tracking of infants across hospital admissions at specific institutions. The authors add key information: First, cardiac care is of critical importance because 91% of infants with trisomy 18 and 86% of those with trisomy 13 had congenital heart disease across a spectrum of severity but included many cases of lesions that are … Address correspondence to Kathy Jenkins, MD, MPH, Department of Cardiology, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: kathy.jenkins{at}childrens.harvard.edu