123 ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF CARDIAC FUNCTION IN THE IMMEDIATE POSTOPERATIVE PERIOD

Echocardiographic (E) assessment of cardiac function (CF) was carried out preoperatively and at 1, 4, and 24 hours (h) post-operatively (PO) in 20 pediatric patients (pts) with varied congenital heart defects. Simultaneous measurements of cardiac out-put (CO) and clinical and hemodynamic data were obtained. The pts were divided into 3 groups: (I) sustained CO≥2.2L/min/m2 without pressors (P)(N=9); (II) low CO