A research project investigating postsurgery developmental delays of infants.
Parents of newborns who require major surgery want to know how their baby’s long-term neurodevelopment will be affected. The Development After Infant Surgery (DAISy) study recruited 784 infants from across NSW who had undergone major cardiac or non-cardiac surgery and compared their developmental outcomes to a cohort of healthy control infants, to provide answers for families – and ultimately better outcomes for the children.
The study found significant differences in development between children who had surgery and their peers. Infants with complex heart conditions had the highest risk. The research team translated the results into clinical practice swiftly: after only two years the team began to enroll infants into a development clinic and all at-risk children are now offered follow-up. Standardised developmental follow-up for complex surgical infants is becoming a standard of care in Australasia and an Australian and New Zealand neonatal surgical network is being established.
