BACKGROUND Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute inflammatory vasculitis, which occurs mostly in childhood, predominantly between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. The incidence of coronary artery abnormalities associated with KD has decreased from 25% to 4% as a result of timely diagnosis and treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). Infants ≤6 months of age are the most likely to develop prolonged fever without the other clinical criteria for KD, and diagnosis can sometimes be challenging or delayed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF• Isolated coronary sinus defect without persistent left superior vena cava is a rare cardiac defect. • Diagnosis can be difficult in the absence of other defects in an asymptomatic child. • Missed or difficult cases to diagnose may be found incidentally in adulthood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Device implantation requires fluoroscopic guidance, which carries inherent risks of ionizing radiation. We evaluated the impact of a low-dose fluoroscopic protocol on radiation exposure during device implantation.
Methods: All patients who underwent pacemaker or ICD implantation with new transvenous leads from July 2011 to January 2018 were included.
Background: Cardiac catheterizations expose both the patient and staff to the risks of ionizing radiation. Studies using the "air gap" technique (AGT) in various radiological procedures indicate that its use leads to reduction in radiation exposure but there are no data on its use for pediatric cardiac catheterization. The aim of this study was to retrospectively review the radiation exposure data for children weighing <20 kg during cardiac catheterizations using AGT and an "as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA)" radiation reduction protocol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground. The use of digital ECG software and services is becoming common. We hypothesized that the introduction of a completely digital ECG system would increase the volume of ECGs interpreted at our children's hospital.
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