Institutional and multiinstitutional results in surgical treatment of patients with congenital heart defects should be assessed and interpreted comparable. This article elucidates backgrounds and perspectives. Therefore expert groups in North America and Europe elaborated complex nomenclatures which i. e. include risk groups and procedure complexity. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery (EACTS) have collected over 150.000 patient/procedure data sets. A number of publications substantiate the possibility of complex data analysis. Even though the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery obliged institutions to participate in quality assurance, not all German institutions cooperate to date. In summery is there a growing need for transparency in regard to quality assurance. However, a continuous and comprehensive analysis of data ought to be ensured by our profession only. The establishement of quality standards in congenital heart surgery is therefore indispensible for government bodies, health authorities, parents associations, and ultimately patients or their parents.
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart, New York.