Blood Based Assessment of sST2, Taken During and After Surgery, for Pediatric Patients With Heart Defects to Predict Heart Failure.

Launched by MARTIN SCHWEIGER · Jun 11, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying a new blood test called sST2 to help predict heart failure in children who are having surgery to fix heart defects they were born with. The researchers want to see if measuring sST2 during surgery, right after, and again 9 to 12 months later can give doctors better information about how the heart is doing. This test may be more reliable than current tests because it is less affected by things like age or kidney problems, which can sometimes make other tests less accurate.

Children under 18 who are scheduled for heart surgery using a heart-lung machine (called cardiopulmonary bypass) and who can understand and consent in German may be eligible to join. Children with very low body weight, certain genetic conditions, or those having multiple organ surgeries are not included. If your child takes part, they will have blood samples taken at different times around their surgery and during a follow-up visit about a year later. This study is not yet recruiting, but it aims to improve how doctors monitor heart health in children after surgery.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Consented for cardiopulmonary bypass surgery for cardiac reason
• • Conversational skills in German (by child and/or representative) to be able to fully understand and sign a written consent in German language
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Know genetic life limiting conditions
• • Syndrome patients who are scheduled or highly likely to be operated on more than one organ
• • Body weight at time of surgery less than 2.5 kg
• • Being recruited and enrolled for an interventional study protocol