Stimulated by the challenge of updating and organizing all the information acquired in the health field, computer medicine has developed on a wide global scale. The recent success of the Internet for distribution of information has created a need for the production and distribution of medical programs for use via this network. The creation of a decision-making program through the World Wide Web for congenital heart diseases could provide updated information for cardiac surgeons, pediatricians and cardiologists involved in patient management. The objectives of this project were the following: - to create a of decision-making model in pediatric cardiac surgery using Tricuspid Atresia, a complex congenital heart disease, as an example; - to evaluate the complexity of the creation of this model and the benefits of using the computer and the Web Interface; - to test its validity in 16 cases treated at the "Universidade Federal de São Paulo" (UNIFESP) between 1980 and March 1997. Using suitable hardware and HTML program language, this program was developed using a group of the texts; 7 pictures and 37 images. During creation of this program, the possibility of its easy development and rapid updating was demonstrated. The validation analysis showed a significant agreement (91.7%) with the surgical indication performed by specialists at the UNIFESP.
Heart defects; Tricuspid atresia; Decision making; Internet
