We would like to thank the authors for their interest and constructive input for our article entitled "Assessment of the factors that affect fast-track or early extubation following pediatric cardiac surgery".[1] We believe that this provides us with an opportunity to further discuss topics of fast-track extubation in pediatric cardiac surgery.

As in many recent articles,[2] we include the peak VIS values for the corresponding analysis. As the authors rightfully pointed out, it is correct that VISindex can also be used instead of VISmax. We will consider these recommendations in our further studies.

Moreover, we do not highlight respiratory tract infections in the results of our study, although the results included overall infection rates including pneumonia. Also, we reported non-invasive ventilation rates, reintubation rates, and pulmonary hypertensive crisis rates. We created a methodology considering that these results were sufficient for the respiratory tract rates.

Wu et al.[3] emphasized the importance of ultrafiltration in influencing post-cardiac surgery extubation. However, since we have a modified ultrafiltration protocol in all patients in our routine procedure, it cannot be considered as an independent variable and cannot be compared. We did not include it in the article, as it did not affect the results.

Data Sharing Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Conflict of Interest: The author declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding: The author received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.

References

1) Özalp Ş, Özcanoğlu HD, Öztürk E, Sağlam S, Kahraman İA, Tan ZB, et al. Assessment of the factors that affect fasttrack or early extubation following pediatric cardiac surgery. Turk Gogus Kalp Dama 2023;31:429-7. doi: 10.5606/tgkdc. dergisi.2023.23206.

2) Tohme J, Lescroart M, Guillemin J, Orer P, Dureau P, Varnous S, et al. Association between vasoactive-inotropic score, morbidity and mortality after heart transplantation. Interdiscip Cardiovasc Thorac Surg 2023;36:ivad055. doi:10.1093/icvts/ivad055.

3) Wu K, Chen F, Wang Y, Ti Y, Liu H, Wang P, et al. The Experience of Early Extubation After Paediatric Congenital Heart Surgery in a Chinese Hospital. Heart Lung Circ 2020;29:e238-e44. doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2020.01.004.