Funding outcome

When children are born with heart disease, sometimes surgery is required an a very young age. In heart surgeries, an organ called the thymus is removed so that the surgeon can access the heart. The thymus is important in the maturation and development of a type of immune cell called a T cell. At birth, humans have T cells that have already developed but they continue to produce new T cells in the thymus until they are much older. There have been previous studies to look at how removing the thymus changes the immune system in children who have had heart surgeries. The results of these studies show that there seem to be differences in the immune sytems of patients with and without a thymus but there are conflicting reports regarding whether or not there is a clinical consequence to thymectomy. Some studies show increased risk of poor immune function and the development of allergies and auto immune disease and others do not. These studies have also generally only looked at small numbers of patients. We now have an opportunity to collaborate with a surgical study group to look at the immune systems of a large number of young patients, who are undergoing heart surgeries at the Stollery Children's Hospital. We will study if removing the thymus in this special group of young patients results in changes in their immune systems. Our goal is to have a better understanding of the immune system in young heart surgery patients and to create a database that will allow the long-term follow up of this large patient group. This study is a rare opportunity to study a unique pediatric population to allow us to have better outcomes for the health and well-being of these patients.