"Quality of life" analysis in the long-term follow-up after "Fontan" palliation for CHDs-a single-centre experience.

Background: Complex CHDs are life threatening, and surgical treatment is needed for survival. Fontan palliation led to a significant increase in survival rates during the last decades. Consequently, quality of life became more essential.

First Real-Life Data on the Diving Response in Healthy Children.

Swimming and diving are popular recreational activities, representing an effective option in maintaining and improving cardiovascular fitness in healthy people. To date, only little is known about the cardiovascular adaption to submersion in children. This study was conducted to improve an understanding thereof.

Coherent mapping of atrial tachycardias in patients with congenital heart disease.

Aims: Coherent mapping (CM) uses a new algorithm to identify critical conduction isthmuses of atrial tachycardias (ATs). We analysed our experience of ablation of AT in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) with this new technology.

Methods And Results: All patients with CHD who had CM of AT using the high-density mapping PENTARAY™ catheter and three-dimensional electroanatomic mapping system Carto3 between June 2019 and June 2021 were included retrospectively (n = 27).

The SIDECAR project: S-IcD registry in European paediatriC and young Adult patients with congenital heaRt defects.

Aims: Subcutaneous-implantable cardiac defibrillators (S-ICDs) are used increasingly to prevent sudden cardiac death in young patients. This study was set up to gain insight in the indications for S-ICD, possible complications, and their predictors and follow-up results.

Methods And Results: A multicentre, observational, retrospective, non-randomized, standard-of-care registry on S-ICD outcome in young patients with congenital heart diseases (CHDs), inherited arrhythmias (IAs), idiopathic ventricular fibrillation (IVF), and cardiomyopathies (CMPs).

Use of the Apple Watch iECG in adult congenital heart disease patients.

Introduction: This study evaluates the accuracy of iECGs in comparison to the gold standard ECG in adult patients with congenital heart disease and recommends the appropriate iECG derivation based on the patient's characteristics.

Methods: In 106 adults (51 female, 55 male) with congenital heart disease, a gold standard 12-lead ECG was recorded, followed by three iECGs with the Apple Watch series 4, which correspond to Einthoven leads I, II, and III. Two experienced and independent cardiologists analyzed the time intervals, amplitudes, and polarities of the ECG parameters as well as the rhythm type and correlated the patient characteristics with the iECG parameters.

Open field stress testing: finally an optimal method in young children? Reference values for mobile cardiopulmonary exercise testing in healthy children aged 4-8 years.

Introduction: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing represents the diagnostic tool for determining cardiopulmonary function. Especially in small children, exercise testing is extremely challenging. To address this problem, field testing has been implemented using small mobile devices.

Accuracy of the Apple Watch single-lead ECG recordings in pre-term neonates.

Introduction: Telemedicine gained an increasing use throughout the last years. Lifestyle tools like the Apple watch seem to have an increasing spread even in remote areas and underdeveloped regions. The increasing availability of these tools offers the chance to use the health care functions of these devices to improve provision of professional medical care.

Evaluation of Clinical Course and Maintenance Drug Treatment of Supraventricular Tachycardia in Children During the First Years of Life. A Cohort Study from Eastern Germany.

Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is considered the most common cause of arrhythmia in children and infants. Regarding the likelihood of a spontaneous resolution of SVTs during the first years of life, drug treatment aims to bridge the time until children 'grow out' out of the arrhythmia. The choice of antiarrhythmic agents and the planning of maintenance therapy are mainly based on clinical experience and retrospective single- and multi-institutional analyses and databases from all over the world approaching differently to this topic.

A case report: Amplatzer occluder device closure of an iatrogenic ventricular septal defect following radiofrequency ablation.

Background: Interventricular septal perforation is an extremely rare complication of radiofrequency ablation (RFA), with an incidence of 1%. The most common mechanism is a 'steam pop', which can be described as 'mini-explosions' of gas bubbles. Data for percutaneous repair of cardiac perforations due to RFA are limited.

Influence of a 100-mile ultramarathon on heart rate and heart rate variability.

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the impact of an ultramarathon (UM) with a distance of 100 miles on heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV).

Methods: 28 runners (25 men and 3 women) underwent 24-hour Holter ECG monitoring 1 week before the UM, immediately after the UM and after a week of recovery. The influence of age, body mass index (BMI), HR and HRV on the run time and recovery was investigated.

Pediatric catheter ablation at the beginning of the 21st century: results from the European Multicenter Pediatric Catheter Ablation Registry 'EUROPA'.

Aims: Contemporary data from prospective multicentre registries on catheter ablation in pediatric patients are sparse. Aim of the European Pediatric Catheter Ablation Registry EUROPA was to contribute data to fill this gap of knowledge.

Methods And Results: From July 2012 to June 2017, data on catheter ablation in pediatric patients (≤18 years of age) including a 1-year follow-up from five European pediatric EP centres were collected prospectively.

Performance of pacemaker leads in alternative lead positions after tricuspid valve replacement.

Background: Bradycardic arrhythmias requiring pacemaker (PM) implantation are still common in patients in need of tricuspid valve replacement (TVR). Leaving an existing PM lead in an extravalvular position may represent a helpful alternative in special situations like the implantation of a mechanical TV. This study aimed to examine the short- to mid-term outcome of paravalvular leads concerning lead survival and prosthesis dysfunction in patients after TVR.

Simulation in Neonatal Echocardiography.

There is a growing interest in neonatologists to train in echocardiography. Recommendations for training have been published by medical societies and working groups, but concerns exist on their feasibility in the face of limited resources. Simulators are increasingly used for training in medicine, including echocardiography.

Junctional ectopic tachycardia in neonatal enterovirus myocarditis.

Differential diagnosis is challenging in poor conditioned neonates referred to the emergency room. Infectious disease is common, yet tachycardia should alert the clinician to look for cardiac arrhythmia and comprise. Tachycardia can lead to cardiomyopathy and should warrant further diagnostics for myocarditis, especially in rare or unusual combination of arrhythmias.

Arterial Hypertension in Children.

Pharmacological treatment of arterial hypertension in children is mainly based on individual experience, but there is evidence that blocking the angiotensin system reduces systolic and diastolic blood when compared to placebo, and these drugs are safe to use for a short duration, also in children under 6 years of age. Blocking the angiotensin system either by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or by antagonizing the angiotensin 1 receptor is effective, but did not display a consistent dose-response relationship with escalating doses, but the effective doses are known. Calcium channel antagonists are effective antihypertensives in children, but the evidence is limited.

Quality of life and psychological co-morbidities in children and adolescents with cardiac pacemakers and implanted defibrillators: a cohort study in Eastern Germany.

Introduction: The implantation of a pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator during childhood may reduce quality of life and lead to mental health problems. This study aimed to evaluate potential mental health problems (i.e.

Does obesity have an effect on the ECG in children?

This review summarizes current data on influences of childhood obesity on the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Studies on obese adults showed a higher risk of cardiovascular complications and also, partly pathological, ECG alterations. Data on ECG alterations in obese children is rare.

Different habitus but similar electrocardiogram: Cardiac repolarization parameters in children - Comparison of elite athletes to obese children.

Introduction: The standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) remains a widely used tool in the basic cardiac evaluation of children and adolescents. With the emergence of inherited arrhythmia syndromes, the period of cardiac repolarization has been the focus of attention. So far, data on cardiac repolarization and its normal variants in healthy children are scarce.

Use of the Abbott EnSite Precision three-dimensional mapping system for the placement of an atrial pacemaker lead in a patient with congenital heart disease.

We report the use of the Abbott three-dimensional mapping system (EnSite Precision) for the placement of an atrial pacemaker lead in a patient after modified Fontan procedure. The mapping system was used for the identification of a promising pacing site in the complexly modified right atrium and to visualize the successful placement of an atrial lead at the same spot.

Cardiac pacing in cardioinhibitory syncope in children.

Introduction: Reflex vasovagal-or cardioinhibitory syncope is known to be a major cause of recurrent syncope in children. The mechanism of vasovagal syncope (VVS) is an interaction between a vagally mediated bradycardia or asystole and a more or less manifest vasodilatory component. Although pacing is not advisable as a standard approach in patients with VVS, it remains a treatment option of last resort in exceptionally severe cases, or patients with contraindication or refractoriness to drug therapy and life style changes.

A novel technique for lead sparing tricuspid valve replacement in the case of a transvenous ICD lead.

Tricuspid valve (TV) surgery represents a complex consideration regarding lead management in patients with a transvenous ICD. The presented case shows favorable short-term results after lead sparing TV replacement, leaving an ICD lead in a paravalvular position. The described technique can be used in challenging cases of TV replacement.

Large nonapical right ventricular diverticulum in a patient with atrioventricular septal defect.

Congenital diveticula and aneurysm of the heart are rare and most often located at the apex of the left ventricle. They pose a significant risk for cardiac failure and arrhythmias. In contrast, nonapical diverticula of the right ventricle (RV) have a much more benign course.

Pulse Oximetry Screening in Germany-Historical Aspects and Future Perspectives.

In January 2017, pulse oximetry screening was legally implemented in routine neonatal care in Germany. The preceding developments, which were the prerequisite for this step, are described in the specific context of Germany's health care system. Continued evaluation of the method is imperative and may lead to modifications in the screening protocol, ideally in accordance with the efforts in other countries.