Cardiovascular disorders

Heart abnormalities affect 1 in 100 babies born in the UK. One-third of these babies require open-heart surgery - a procedure that bruises the heart, making it harder to pump blood and oxygen to other organs, and in turn, causing damage. Despite frequent checking and testing, it is difficult to predict which children will develop organ damage after surgery. While various treatments are available to support heart function, there remains uncertainty around which medications are the best choice, as well as the most effective dosage and timings.

Dr Timothy Dawes at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust plans to use information from children who have had these operations to predict poor heart function risk factors following the surgery, and to identify the most effective treatments for boosting recovery. He will achieve this by applying advanced computer learning techniques. The work will build on an ongoing patient and participant involvement to ensure results are relevant and useful in day-to-day work.

He hopes to support medical teams to personalise care, identify risks early, and use treatments in the best possible way. This will improve recovery times and allow children to flourish in the longer term, while reducing hospital costs.