Corrective surgery in adults with congenital heart disease

Dr Zomer and colleagues1 reported the results of 2015 adult patients who were surgically treated for congenital heart disease. Logistic regression models were used to assess the association between sex and surgical outcomes. The authors concluded that male patients with congenital heart disease have a higher chance of undergoing surgery in adulthood.1 These patients also have a worse longer-term survival after reoperations in comparison with female patients.1 The authors also stated that the high rate of reoperations in adult men supports the hypothesis that corrective surgery is not necessarily a curative surgery, and male and female patients are different in the way they are surgically managed.1