Objectives: Globally congenital heart disease mortality is declining, yet the proportion of infant deaths attributable to heart disease rises in Colombia and other middle-sociodemographic countries. We aimed to assess the accessibility of paediatric cardiac surgery (PCS) to children <18 years of age in 2016 in the South American country of Colombia.
Methods: In Bogotá, Colombia, a multi-national team used cross-sectional and retrospective cohort study designs to adapt and evaluate 4 health system indicators at the national level: first, the population with timely geographic access to an institution providing PCS; second, the number of paediatric cardiac surgeons; third, this specialized procedure volume and its national distribution; and fourth, the 30-day perioperative mortality rate after PCS in Colombia.
The Fontan surgery involves the creation a conduit between the inferior vena cava and the right pulmonary artery. This conduit has a small fenestration that shunts the blood from right to left in case the pulmonary blood flow is limited; namely, if the pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) is increased then the shunt is increased. Bacteria may bypass the pulmonary circulation and easily get access to the systemic circulation (bacteremia).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUse of occluder devices for a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closure is restricted to small diameter PDAs and involves high device costs. The objective of this study was to develop a new nitinol implant for the closure of a PDA and to evaluate its safety and efficacy in an animal model. The design consists of a device that promotes thrombus formation in the PDA.
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