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Heart Institute Outcomes
Exceptional care. Remarkable outcomes.
Arkansas Children’s Heart Institute was founded in 1985. Over the decades that followed, we’ve improved the lives of countless families, children and adults across the region. Our consistently high diagnostic, interventional and electrophysiology case volumes fuel our team toward exceptional outcomes.
Experience makes all the difference—and our outcomes prove it.
Our relentless drive for excellence results in faster recovery times, shorter hospital stays and outstanding survival rates. Our program consistently outperforms the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ benchmarks, and with each discovery and innovation, our best keeps getting better.Higher is better
The more operations we do, the more experience we have, and experience is the key to good outcomes. STS considers ACH a high-volume surgical center with a large enough volume to ensure experience in treating all congenital cardiac lesions.
Lower is better
Cross-clamp time is the time in minutes during which the aorta is occluded (closed off) to allow surgical repair. During this time, oxygenated blood flow is stopped to the tissues being repaired. The lower the cross-clamp time, the lower the risk of complication.
Arkansas Children’s cross-clamp times are consistently shorter than the industry benchmark. This means our team has the skill to quickly and safely complete the surgical repair.
Lower is better
Less time in the hospital means more time at home with family. On average, our patient’s post-operative total length of stay across all categories is shorter at ACH compared to other national sites.
Higher is better
A long history of consistent volumes of cardiac catheterization (cath) procedures, including diagnostic, interventional, and electrophysiology cases, provide our teams with the right experience to ensure exceptional outcomes. Our team performs more than 600 cath lab cases each year.
Higher cases, lower mortality is better
ACH has some of the LOWEST mortality rates compared to other centers of similar size and operations performed.
STAT score is assigned to each surgical procedure. It is a tool designed to analyze risk for mortality based on the complexity of each case. This graph shows the number of overall cases performed per STAT category compared to the mortality that occurred. STAT 5 represents the most complex cases.
Higher is better
This information shows survival after surgical treatment of key benchmark operations over a 4-year period and compares the ACH experience to the STS average. ACH meets or exceeds survival outcomes in all key areas when compared to the STS average.
Your healthier-ever-after story begins here.
The Arkansas Children’s Heart Institute is more than a regional destination. We are a nationally ranked leader for specialized pediatric care.
Learn more about Arkansas Children's Heart Institute