National Health Reporter,London(weastar times/bbc+ENGLAND):::The NHS wants to close Glenfield Hospital's unit as part of plans to overhaul the service nationally.
Professor Sir Brian Jarman from Imperial College said there were only five deaths at the unit in the past six years - much fewer than expected.
The NHS said the mortality data focused on too few patients to be meaningful.
In July, the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) said the facility in Leicester should be one of three to close nationally.
The JCPCT said creating fewer, larger centres would improve the service, and that the unit, along with the Ecmo (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) equipment used to oxygenate patients' blood, should go to Birmingham.
But Prof Jarman's figures show Glenfield Hospital had the lowest expected mortality rate of all 11 of the children's heart center he analysed.
He looked at the number of open heart operations, excluding transplants, between March 2006 and March 2012 - comparing the number of deaths with the expected figure.
A hospital which had exactly the expected number would have a standardised mortality rate (SMR) of 100, but because Glenfield had fewer deaths and scored 45.1.
By comparison, Birmingham's SMR was 109.8 and Great Ormond Street was 72.8. The JCPCT has recommended that both those units remain open.
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"Furthermore the data provides no reliable way of reflecting case complexity, disadvantaging units that regularly perform more high-risk surgical procedures."
The former Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt asked the independent reconfiguration panel (IRP) to look at how the recommendations were reached.
It is expected to report its findings by 28 February.
The former Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt asked the independent reconfiguration panel (IRP) to look at how the recommendations were reached.
It is expected to report its findings by 28 February.
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