[Sudden cardiac arrest in children and adolescents: diagnosis, clinical presentation and peculiarities].

Sudden cardiac arrest/death in pediatric patients is a rare but potentially preventable event. Cardiomyopathies and channelopathies are the most common causes which are detectable with ECG and transthoracic echocardiography in asymptomatic subjects. Coronary artery anomalies are a rare cause of sudden cardiac arrest/death, but these events suggest that ECG and echocardiography, focused on the site of origin of the coronary arteries, should be both part of the screening tool of young athletes.

[Tachyarrhythmias in congenital heart disease patients: diagnosis, clinical presentation and treatment].

Tachyarrhythmias are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in adult congenital heart disease patients. There is a strong association between tachyarrhythmias and the specific congenital heart disease and the patient's surgical history. Health care for adults with congenital heart disease and arrhythmias should be coordinated by adult congenital heart disease centers of excellence that serve as a resource for consultation and referral.

Diagnosis and treatment of fetal and pediatric age patients (0-12 years) with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and atrioventricular accessory pathways.

Overt or concealed accessory pathways are the anatomic substrates of ventricular preexcitation (VP), Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) and paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT). These arrhythmias are commonly observed in pediatric age. PSVT may occur at any age, from fetus to adulthood, and its symptoms range from none to syncope or heart failure.

Nutrient intakes in adult and pediatric coeliac disease patients on gluten-free diet: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Celiac Disease (CD) continues to require a strict lifetime gluten-free diet (GFD) to maintain healthy status. Many studies have assessed the GFD nutritional adequacy in their cohorts, but an overall picture in adults and children would offer a lifetime vision to identify actionable areas of change. We aimed at assessing the nutrient intakes of adult and pediatric CD patients following a GFD diet and identifying potential areas of improvement.

Sudden cardiac death related to left coronary artery anomalies including hypoplasia and anomalous origin with retro-aortic course.

Congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries are a rare condition with an incidence of 0.3-1.3% in the general population.

Chronicle of a death foretold. It is time for echocardiographic screening in young athletes.

Background: The novel "" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a story of a sudden death which could have been prevented. In 1976, within the University of Maryland basketball program and only 8 weeks apart, two athletes died suddenly during physical exertion. They were affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and Marfan syndrome and in both cases an echocardiogram would have prevented the tragic epilogue.

Cardiovascular issues in obstructive sleep apnoea in children: A brief review.

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a very common disease with a prevalence that ranges from 1% to 6% in children. It is characterized by intermittent partial or complete occlusion of the upper airway during sleep, leading to recurrent arousals and disturbed sleep architecture, to neurocognitive disorders and alterations in homeostatic gas exchange. Cardiovascular complications may develop in children with OSA through various mechanisms including activation and dysregulation of the sympathetic nervous system, induction of pro-inflammatory and pro-oxidant status and increased risk of systemic hypertension.

Carditis in Acute Rheumatic Fever in a High-Income and Moderate-Risk Country.

Objective: To describe clinical presentation, electrocardiographic, and echocardiographic characteristics of carditis at the time of diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) over a 13-year period.

Study Design: A single-center retrospective chart analysis was conducted involving all consecutive patients diagnosed with ARF between 2003 and 2015. Patient age, sex, clinical characteristics, recent medical history for group A streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis and antibiotic treatment, and laboratory, echocardiographic, and electrocardiographic findings were recorded.

[Vincent Van Gogh and Giovanni Pascoli, foiled by the foxglove.].

Vincent Van Gogh and Giovanni Pascoli were artists who shared many aesthetic and biographical affinities. Both were somehow intoxicated by digitalis, the painter literally in a pharmacological sense, the poet symbolically or in a literary sense. In the paper we propose an original theory on how digital affected the last works of the Dutch painter and in particular the portrait of doctor Gachet, which differs from the previous theories, that attribute the chromatic style of Van Gogh to the xanthopsia caused by digitalis overdose.

Recurrent Stroke after Transcatheter PFO Closure in Cryptogenic Stroke or Tia: Long-Term Follow-Up.

Background: There are few data on the mechanism of recurrent neurological events after transcatheter closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in cryptogenic stroke or TIA.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed PFO closure procedures for the secondary prevention of cryptogenic stroke/TIA performed between 1999 and 2014 in Bologna, Italy.

Results: Written questionnaires were completed by 402 patients.

Upside-down position for the out of hospital management of children with supraventricular tachycardia.

Background: The upside-down position is a little known modified Valsalva manoeuvre (VM). The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and the efficacy of the upside-down position for the treatment of paroxysmal SVT in children.

Methods: Twenty-four paediatric patients followed for SVT were enrolled.

Premature ventricular complexes in children with structurally normal hearts: clinical review and recommendations for diagnosis and treatment.

Premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) have always been a matter of debate among physicians and a cause for concern for family members of affected patients. The available literature on isolated PVCs in children is limited to case reports and small single-center retrospective series that are consistent in demonstrating the benign course of PVCs and their frequent disappearance during childhood, though many questions remain unanswered. Nevertheless, two key actions should be undertaken in pediatric patients with documented PVCs: 1) to rule out the presence of structural heart disease; 2) to determine whether symptoms are due to PVCs, or whether PVC frequency is responsible for left ventricular dysfunction.

Does Pharmacological Therapy Still Play a Role in Preventing Sudden Death in Surgically Treated Tetralogy of Fallot?

Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is the most common cyanotic congenital heart disease, with a familial recurrence risk of 3%. Despite performing an optimal surgical repair, TOF patients may feature a poor medium and long-term survival rate: atrial re-entrant tachycardia will develop in more than 30% of patients and high-grade ventricular arrhythmias will be seen in about 10% of patients. These life-threatening arrhythmias and consequent sudden death continue to represent serious complications following TOF repair.

The effects of gender on electrical therapies for the heart: physiology, epidemiology, and access to therapies.

The difference between men and women is clear even just by looking at an electrocardiogram: females present higher resting heart rate, a shorter QRS complex length and greater corrected QT interval. The development of these differences from pubertal age onward suggests that sexual hormones play a key role, although their effect is far from being completely understood. Different incidences between sexes have been reported for many arrhythmias, both ventricular and supraventricular, and also for sudden cardiac death.

Describing Kawasaki shock syndrome: results from a retrospective study and literature review.

Kawasaki shock syndrome (KSS) is a rare manifestation of Kawasaki disease (KD) characterized by systolic hypotension or clinical signs of poor perfusion. The objectives of the study are to describe the main clinical presentation, echocardiographic, and laboratory findings, as well as the treatment options and clinical outcomes of KSS patients when compared with KD patients. This is a retrospective study.

[The heart between the risk of sudden death and chronic life].

In recent years, medical and surgical therapy has progressed such that even children with the most complex cardiac disease may reach adulthood with an acceptable quality of life. However, apart from this minority, pediatricians and cardiologists deal with diseases such as cardiomyopathies, arrhythmias, channelopathies and other acquired heart diseases. The majority of patients can be problematic 'cause of a cardiac murmur or in obtaining a certificate of sports eligibility.