Effects of Cardiac Surgery with Extracorporeal Circulation

The effect of extracorporeal circulation during open heart surgery on changes in intellectual function was studied in 18 children. A group of patients undergoing such surgery was compared to a control group undergoing cardiac surgery without extracorporeal circulation. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children was used to evaluate the patients. No significant differences were found in either the perfornance IQs, verbal IQs, or full scale IQs by comparing the postoperative scores to the preoperative scores either within each group or between the groups. Extracorporeal circulation during open heart surgery does not appear to alter intellectual functioning in the pediatric age group.