ArticlePediatric cardiology2026
Delayed Sternal Closure After Pediatric Heart Transplant.
Article in Pediatric cardiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Delayed sternal closure (DSC) is frequently used after pediatric heart transplantation when immediate closure may compromise hemodynamics or respiratory mechanics. However, limited data describe the timing, safety, infection risk, and physiologic effects of DSC in this population. We aimed to characterize the use of DSC after pediatric heart transplantation, including time to closure, infectious complications, and changes in hemodynamic and respiratory parameters using both electronic health record data and high-fidelity continuous monitoring. We conducted a retrospective descriptive study at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas. Patients who underwent DSC after pediatric heart transplantation between January 1, 2013, and March 1, 2023, were identified through the Society of Thoracic Surgeons database. Continuous vital-sign data were obtained from the Sickbay high-fidelity monitoring platform and supplemented with data from the electronic health record. Vasoactive medication use, administered fluid volume, and urine output were collected from the electronic health record. Low-frequency peri-closure data were compared before and after DSC, and multilevel mixed-effects models were used to evaluate changes in continuously recorded hemodynamic variables. Thirty-two patient encounters were included. The median time to sternal closure was 2.79 days after transplantation. Analysis of low-frequency data showed statistically significant increases in respiratory rate, peak inspiratory pressure, and fraction of inspired oxygen after DSC; however, the magnitude of these changes was not clinically significant. Multilevel mixed-effects analysis of high-fidelity continuous data demonstrated no statistically significant changes in hemodynamic parameters after DSC. No patient required sternal reopening following closure. Two patients developed infections. Delayed sternal closure was well tolerated after pediatric heart transplantation and was typically performed within 2 to 3 days. Closure was not associated with clinically meaningful hemodynamic deterioration, the infection rate was low, and no patient required sternal reopening. These findings support the safety of DSC in carefully selected pediatric heart transplant recipients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42799914What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.