Evaluation of surgical treatment of congenital heart disease in patients aged above 16 years.

Background: The increasing number of children with evolving congenital heart diseases demands greater preparation of professionals and institutions that handle them.

Objective: To describe the profile of patients aged over 16 years with congenital heart disease, who have undergone surgery, and analyze the risk factors that predict hospital mortality.

Method: One thousand five hundred twenty patients (mean age 27 ± 13 years) were operated between January 1986 and December 2010.

B-type natriuretic peptide assessment in the diagnosis of rejection after pediatric heart transplant.

Background: Rejection is one of the major causes of mortality following pediatric heart transplant. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has been studied as a method for the diagnosis of acute rejection, especially in adult patients undergoing heart transplant.

Objective: To correlate serum BNP levels with acute rejection as diagnosed by endomyocardial biopsy in patients of the pediatric heart transplant group.