**5. Clinical registers**

International reference data sets were adopted to characterize cardiac patients developing registers, aimed at both clinical research and outcome evaluation. An information model was created for structured data management to build clinical registers (Dalmiani et al., 2002). Registers were partially filled in automatically by data retrieved from EMR or from anesthesia record. EACTS congenital heart surgery dataset was adopted as reference for pediatric patients (EACTS database), while National Society of Cardiac Surgery dataset for adults undergoing cardiac surgery (SICCH database). Standard risk scores were derived from datasets (Euroscore for adult and Aristotle for pediatric cardiac surgery).
