Canadian perinatal surgery network (CAPSNET): Establishing best perinatal practices for gastroschisis and congenital diaphragmatic hernia using a Canadian dataset

Currently our ability to effectively study newborn infants with birth defects requiring major surgery in the newborn period is limited by a number of factors. Such factors include the infrequency of the conditions, variability in both pre and post-natal diagnostic and treatment strategies, inaccurate incidence reporting (as many fetuses are aborted or stillborn), and a lack of tools to accurately stratify patients according to disease severity in order to allow comparisons between different treatment strategies. With the development of a national database for infants with birth defects requiring major surgery, we would encourage the study of patient-group specific outcomes, and provide significant opportunities for targeted practice improvement. Specifically, the database would allow the identification of specific clinical practices associated with favourable and unfavourable outcomes leading to overall improvements in patient outcomes and resource utilization.