American Heart Association and The Children’s Heart Foundation Congenital Heart Defect Research Awards Second Round Recipients

What is the major problem being addressed by this study? Children with single ventricle congenital heart lesions account for 25-40% of all neonatal cardiac deaths. Between 35-50% of these kids will experience an unanticipated acute cardio-respiratory arrest event within the first months of life, and 15% will not survive. This study addresses the current inability to accurately detect the onset of acute cardio-respiratory arrest events in this population. We intend to validate a system which provides a 1-2 hour early warning notice to care team members of an imminent arrest, which would allow them to proactively respond to mitigate arrest events before they become life threatening, decreasing mortality and morbidity of these children.