A Meta-Analysis of Mitral Surgery in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Anomalous Left Coronary Artery: When to Perform Repair?

The present study is the first meta-analysis comparing long-term outcomes in patients undergoing correction for anomalous left coronary artery (ALCAPA) regarding concomitant mitral valve surgery. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify all relevant studies with comparative data on mitral valve surgery performed during surgery for ALCAPA correction. Predefined primary end points included mortality and mitral valve (re)operation.

Anxiety, depression, and infertility-specific distress among women with female factor infertility.

This study aimed to evaluate whether anxiety, depression, and infertility-specific distress differ among women with female infertility who are trying to conceive and/or seeking infertility treatment. Women with diagnosed female factor infertility in the past 2 years ( = 188) completed demographic questions, and measures of infertility-specific distress, anxiety, and depression. The majority of the sample were actively trying to conceive (78.

Echocardiographic imaging and ventricular mechanics in pulsatile-flow LVAD pediatric patients: a systematic approach.

Echocardiography plays a crucial role in determining the eligibility for left ventricular assist device (LVAD) placement in patients experiencing advanced heart failure (HF) and in monitoring patient care after the implantation procedure. Because of its unique nature, pediatric population and pulsatile-flow LVADs used in pediatrics require specific skills so that pediatric echocardiographers must develop a systematic approach in order to image the patients pre and post LVAD implantation. Therefore, the purpose of this narrative review is to delineate a systematic echocardiographic approach for pediatric patients supported by pulsatile-flow LVADs.

Predictors of intracranial hemorrhage in neonatal patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a life-supportive treatment in neonatal patients with refractory lung and/or heart failure. Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) is a severe complication and reliable predictors are warranted. The aims of this study were to explore the incidence and possible predictors of ICH in ECMO-treated neonatal patients.

Incidence and predictors of brain infarction in neonatal patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: an observational cohort study.

To determine the incidence and identify predictors of brain infarctions (BI) in neonatal patients treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). We performed a retrospective cohort study at ECMO Centre Karolinska, Stockholm, Sweden. Logistic regression models were used to identify BI predictors.

Predictors of survival in paediatric mitral valve surgery: the impact of age at operation at late follow-up.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to elucidate predictors of death and reintervention after mitral valve (MV) surgery in children.

Methods: A single-centre retrospective study was performed enrolling 142 patients younger than 18 years who underwent primary index surgical mitral repair or replacement at Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital in Rome from July 1982 to April 2020. Patients with complete, transitional or partial atrioventricular septal defect and patients with single ventricle physiology were excluded.

Ascending aortic extension to increase aortopulmonary space after comprehensive stage II palliation.

Aortic reconstruction at the time of the comprehensive stage II (CSII) procedure can be complicated by compression within the aortopulmonary space resulting in airway or pulmonary artery narrowing. We describe our experience with 2 patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and pulmonary artery stenosis after the CSII procedure. Both patients underwent an aortic extension with a Hemashield interposition graft to open up the aortopulmonary space.

Predictors of brain infarction in adult patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: an observational cohort study.

Non-hemorrhagic brain infarction (BI) is a recognized complication in adults treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and associated with increased mortality. However, predictors of BI in these patients are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of BI in ECMO-treated adult patients.

Predictors of survival in paediatric mitral valve replacement.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the predictors of death and of reintervention after mitral valve replacement (MVR) in children.

Methods: A single-centre retrospective study was performed including 115 patients under the age of 18 undergoing MVR between 1982 and 2019. For all patients, the ratio of prosthetic valve size (diameter in mm) to weight (kg) at surgery was calculated and long-term result was assessed.

Long-term veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a bridge to heart-lung transplant.

En bloc heart-lung transplantation still represents definitive therapy for end-stage cardiopulmonary failure. However, patients may critically decompensate while awaiting suitable donor organs and necessitate veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. In this article, we describe the combined use of central cannulation with the Berlin Heart EXCOR ventricular assist device cannulae and the CentriMag centrifugal pump as an extended bridge to heart-lung transplantation in three pediatric patients.

Cardiac Output Measurement With Echocardiography and Pressure Recording Analytical Method in Pediatric Patients Admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit: A Retrospective Assessment of Bias Between the Two Methods.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare, in a cohort of critically ill children with biventricular anatomy and no cardiovascular shunt, cardiac output (CO) and cardiac index (CI) assessed by echocardiography and a continuous pulse-contour method, MostCare, to measure the differences between these techniques (biasCO and biasCI), and their association with clinical variables.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Tertiary pediatric cardiac intensive care unit.

Echocardiographic Parameters and Mortality in Pediatric Sepsis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic value of echocardiographic parameters in pediatric septic patients.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, PubMed, and EMBASE (last update April 5, 2020).

Study Selection: Observational studies of pediatric sepsis providing echocardiographic parameters in relation to mortality.

Left ventricular unloading during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation - Impella versus atrial septal defect: A simulation study.

Background: Atrial septal defect and Impella have been proposed for left ventricular unloading in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients. This work aims at evaluating the haemodynamic changes in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients after Impella implantation or atrial septal defect realization by a simulation study.

Methods: A lumped parameter model of the cardiovascular system was adapted to this study.

Effects of levosimendan on ventriculo-arterial coupling and cardiac efficiency in paediatric patients with single-ventricle physiology after surgical palliation: retrospective study.

Objectives: The use of levosimendan for paediatric patients with low cardiac output after congenital heart surgery has been recently described. We sought to evaluate ventriculo-arterial coupling (VAC) and other ventricular energetic parameters before and after 72 h from levosimendan start in infants with single-ventricle physiology and cardiac failure after palliation with Norwood or hybrid procedures.

Methods: In this single-centre retrospective study, 9 consecutive patients affected by hypoplastic left heart syndrome-like anatomy were retrospectively analysed.

Predicting the pressure of the total cavopulmonary connection: clinical testing of a mathematical equation.

Introduction: Some authors advocate the use of a dedicated formula to predict the Fontan pressure starting from pre-Fontan catheterisation data. This paper aims at testing the predictive value of the mentioned formula through a retrospective clinical study.

Methods And Results: Pre-Fontan catheterisation data and Fontan pressure measured at the completion were retrospectively collected.

Changes in left and right ventricular two-dimensional echocardiographic speckle-tracking indices in pediatric LVAD population: A retrospective clinical study.

Echocardiographic strain and strain-rate imaging is a promising tool for the evaluation of myocardial segmental function, for the early detection of myocardial dysfunction, and for the prediction of reverse remodeling. We aimed at studying the changes in left and right ventricular function in pulsatile left ventricular assist device pediatric patients by two-dimensional echocardiography and two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography. Echocardiographic and clinical data of patients implanted with a pulsatile-flow left ventricular assist device from 2011 to 2018 were retrospectively reviewed before and after implantation at 1, 3, and 6 months.

Ventricular-Arterial Coupling in Children and Infants With Congenital Heart Disease After Cardiopulmonary Bypass Surgery: Observational Study.

Objectives: Ventricular-arterial coupling represents the interaction between the left ventricle and the arterial system. Ventricular-arterial coupling is measured as the ratio between arterial elastance and ventricular end-systolic elastance. Scant information is available in critically ill children about these variables.

Is the New Infant Jarvik 2015 Suitable for Patients<8 kg? In Vitro Study Using a Hybrid Simulator.

Our aim was to study the feasibility of implanting the Infant Jarvik 2015 in patients weighing less than 8 kg. The Infant Jarvik 2015 left ventricular assist device (LVAD) was tested in a hybrid simulator of the cardiovascular system reproducing specific patients' hemodynamics for different patient weights (2-7 kg). For each weight, the sensitivity of the pump to different circulatory parameters (peripheral resistance, left ventricular elastance, right ventricular elastance, heart rate, and heart filling characteristics) has been tested repeating for each experiment a pump ramp (10 000-18 000 rpm).

Assessment of cardiac function in infants with transposition of the great arteries after surgery: comparison of two methods.

Background: Assessment of cardiac function is crucial in pediatric patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery, monitoring cardiac output and changing hemodynamic conditions during surgery accordingly is important to improve post-surgical outcome. We aimed to measure cardiac index (CI) and maximal rate of the increase of left ventricular pressure dp/dt(max) with the pressure recording analytic method (PRAM, MostCare) and compared it with transthoracic echocardiographic cardiac index estimation in infants with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) undergoing surgical correction.

Methods: We enrolled 74 infants with TGA consecutively into this study.

A New 2D Echocardiographic Approach to Evaluate the Membrane and Valve Movement of the Berlin Heart EXCOR VAD Chamber in Pediatric VAD Patients.

The use of Berlin Heart EXCOR VAD (BH) is a validated therapy to bridge pediatric patients to heart transplant. Serial echocardiographic (ECHO) assessment of VAD patients is necessary to support patients' management. This work aims at developing an innovative strategy to evaluate the BH device functioning by ECHO and its interaction with the native heart in a pediatric population.

Evolution of Biventricular Loading Condition in Pediatric LVAD Patient: A Prospective and Observational Study.

The aim of this study was to describe the echocardiographic trend of left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) function after implantation of a pulsatile flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD) in children. From 2013 to 2016, we prospectively evaluated 13 consecutive pediatric Berlin Heart EXCOR LVAD patients. Clinical and echocardiographic data were collected at baseline, within 24 h after implantation and monthly until LVAD explant.