Etiology and Mortality Investigation in Neonates that Underwent Surgery

Objective: We aimed to examine the demographic characteristics, etiology and postoperative mortality rates of neonates operated on in our hospital. Methods: The records of neonates who were operated in our tertiary care level university hospital between 2013 and 2019 were reviewed retrospectively. Patients with a diagnosis requiring surgical procedure, age (days), gender, anatomical region where the surgical procedure was performed, length of hospital stay, and mortality rates were investigated. Results: 329 neonates were included in the study of which 213 (64.75%) were male and 116 (35.25%) were female. Gastrointestinal system surgery was performed in 214 patients (65.04%), respiratory system surgery in 95 (28.87%) patients and urogenital system surgery in 17 (5.16%) patients. The mortality rate of 156 patients that were followed up in our neonatal unit in the postoperative period was 16.6%. The mortality rate of female babies (21.3%) was higher than that of male babies (13%). Considering the mortality rates of the patients according to the surgical areas, the highest mortality rate was found in respiratory system surgery (38.46%) which was trailed by gastrointestinal system surgery (12.28%) and urogenital system surgery (7.69%), respectively. Conclusions: Despite advances in neonatal care and surgical techniques, immaturity and congenital anomalies still have an important place among the most common causes of death in infants. In particular, the detection of organ dysfunctions due to congenital anomalies which are considered among the preventable causes of death in infants, efforts to correct them will be beneficial to a certain extent in reducing the mortality rates of neonates.