Pediatric Heart Care: Quality and Outcomes
OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital offers your child top care from nationally recognized pediatric heart surgeons. We’re proud that our outcomes are among the best in the nation.
Understanding outcomes
Every surgery has results, called outcomes. We voluntarily share our surgical outcomes data publicly for transparency and to improve care.
Outcomes for pediatric heart surgery include:
- Survival rates: How many children survive at least 30 days after surgery and go home.
- Length of stay: Median number of days children spend in the hospital after surgery.
Information on surgery outcomes is based on groups of patients. Outcomes don’t account for genetics or other factors that increase risk. They can't predict what will happen with your child, but they can give you an idea of what many children experience after similar operations.
You can always talk with your care team about your child’s unique situation.
Heart surgery survival rates
Survival rates since 2022
Since 2022, our team has performed 555 heart surgeries in children, from newborns to teens. Year after year, nearly all children who have heart surgery at Doernbecher survive.
| Year | Survival rate |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 97.5% |
| 2023 | 99.3% |
| 2024 | 98.0% |
| 2025 | 98.0% |
These tables compare survival rates at Doernbecher with national survival rates reported by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The STS is the world leader in working to improve outcomes for surgeries for congenital heart conditions.
Rates are for Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2025.
Survival rates by age
Our survival rates are similar to or better than the STS national average.
| Age group | Doernbecher surgeries | Doernbecher | STS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newborns (1 to 30 days old) | 109 | 92.7% | 93.0% |
| Babies (31 days to 12 months old) | 203 | 99.0% | 97.3% |
| Children (1 to 17 years old) | 243 | 100% | 98.9% |
Survival rates by type of surgery
Our overall survival rate is higher than the STS national average.
| Doernbecher surgeries | Doernbecher survival rate | STS surgeries | STS survival rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall survival rate | 555 | 98.2% | 95,578 | 97.2% |
| Repair of coarctation of the aorta | 33 | 97.0% | 3,062 | 98.7% |
| Closure of ventricular septal defect | 76 | 100% | 7,873 | 99.6% |
| Repair of tetralogy of Fallot | 37 | 100% | 4,373 | 99.3% |
| Repair of complete atrioventricular septal defect | 23 | 95.7% | 2,868 | 97.9% |
| Arterial switch operation | 20 | 95.0% | 1,825 | 97.9% |
| Arterial switch operation with closure of a ventricular septal defect | 5 | 80.0% | 729 | 95.6% |
| Norwood operation | 15 | 80.0% | 2,342 | 87.7% |
| Glenn operation | 12 | 100% | 3,143 | 98.8% |
| Fontan operation | 16 | 100% | 3,290 | 99.0% |
| Repair of truncus arteriosus | 1 | 100% | 488 | 94.7% |
Survival rates by category
Heart surgeries are put in categories based on complexity. More complex surgeries generally have higher risk. STAT Category 1 reflects surgeries with the lowest risk. STAT Category 5 includes the most complex surgeries with the highest risk.
This table compares survival rates at Doernbecher with those reported by STS from Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2025. Outcomes at Doernbecher for children who need heart surgery are excellent, including the most complex surgeries.
| STAT Category | Doernbecher | STS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100% | 99.4% |
| 2 | 99.3% | 97.9% |
| 3 | 96.4% | 96.8% |
| 4 | 98.1% | 92.8% |
| 5 | 85.7% | 85.2% |
Length of stay
This table shows the median number of days children stayed at Doernbecher after surgery, compared with the median reported by STS. The median is the middle number within the range of days spent. A shorter stay usually is tied to fewer complications.
Children who have heart surgery at Doernbecher recover more quickly and leave the hospital sooner than at other places.
| Surgery | Doernbecher | STS |
|---|---|---|
| Repair of coarctation of the aorta | 5.5 | 13.7 |
| Closure of ventricular septal defect | 4.0 | 10.1 |
| Repair of tetralogy of Fallot | 6.0 | 11.6 |
| Repair of complete atrioventricular septal defect | 6.0 | 17.2 |
| Arterial switch operation | 12.0 | 18.8 |
| Arterial switch operation with closure of a ventricular septal defect | 12.0 | 21.0 |
| Norwood operation | 43.0 | 53.0 |
| Glenn operation | 9.5 | 12.8 |
| Fontan operation | 9.5 | 13.3 |
| Repair of truncus arteriosus | 35.0 | 35.0 |
How we improve outcomes
Our team is always looking for ways to further improve the care we provide. We meet several times a month to review what went well with patients’ surgeries and hospital stays and what we can do better.
We take part in several international efforts to improve pediatric heart care and outcomes, including:
- The Single Ventricle Outcomes Network connects 65 leading pediatric heart care centers in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Its goal is to improve outcomes for children with congenital heart disease, especially babies with single ventricle heart disease.
- The Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium is a group of more than 70 elite children’s hospitals in North America and beyond. It works to improve care for patients with critical pediatric and congenital heart disease.
Location
OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
700 S.W. Campus Drive
Portland, OR 97239
Free parking for patients and visitors
Refer a patient
- Refer your patient to OHSU Doernbecher.
- Call 503-346-0644 to seek provider-to-provider advice.