Reader response

Myron Yaster MD

From Dr Tim Murphy, Consultant paediatric cardiac anaesthetist, Clinical Director, Children's Cardiac Services, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children on ERAS recommendations for neonatal perioperative care

As someone who has implemented an ERP for selected cardiac surgical patients here in Bristol, and published our results (Murphy T, Sale SM, Gonzalez Barlatay F, et al. Initial results from an enhanced recovery program for pediatric cardiac surgical patients. Paediatric anaesthesia 2022;32(5):647-653.), I am battling with the idea that ERP for specifically neonatal cardiac surgical patients is a concept worth progressing with, or whether they represent a truly different surgical population for whom ERP is much less likely to be relevant. In all honesty - for me - it's the latter and if we're gathering evidence for implementing 'general' neonatal surgical ERP it feels reasonable to exclude cardiac surgical patients undergoing procedures on bypass like Stage I Norwood, truncus repair, arterial switch and so on (at least for the time being!)?