Clinical approach to acute cellular rejection from the pediatric heart transplant society.

Background: Early detection of cardiac allograft rejection is crucial for post-transplant graft survival. Despite the progress made in immunosuppression strategies, acute cellular rejection remains a serious complication during and after the first post-transplant year, and there is a continued lack of consensus regarding its treatment, especially in pediatric transplant patients.

Methods: An open request was placed via the listserv to the membership of the Pediatric Heart Transplant Society (PHTS).

Long-term outcomes of simultaneous heart and kidney transplantation in pediatric recipients.

Pediatric sHKTx has become an effective therapy for patients with combined cardiac and renal failure. Often, these patients develop human leukocyte antigen antibodies from their previous allografts and are therefore more difficult to re-transplant. We describe the largest case series of a predominantly sensitized pediatric sHKTx with emphasis on medical management and patient outcomes.

Initial Experience with Sildenafil, Bosentan, and Nitric Oxide for Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Patients with Elevated Pulmonary Vascular Resistance before and after Orthotopic Heart Transplantation.

Background. Although pulmonary hypertension complicating dilated cardiomyopathy has been shown to be a significant risk factor for graft failure after heart transplantation, the upper limits of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) that would contraindicate pediatric heart transplantation are not known. Methods.

Experience with the Cardiva Boomerang Catalyst system in pediatric cardiac catheterization.

Objectives: We studied the safety and efficacy of the Cardiva Boomerang Catalyst vascular closure system in pediatric patients after cardiac catheterization with access in femoral and internal jugular vessels.

Background: Recurrent catheterization and advances in pediatric interventions increase the need for easy hemostasis without a residual foreign body that may prevent re-accessing the vessel. The Boomerang can be deployed in sheaths as small as 4Fr without residual foreign body, with minimal orientation needed, and few complications reported.

Clinico-pathologic findings in end-stage pediatric heart transplant grafts.

The pathologic patterns existing in end-stage pediatric heart transplant grafts may help explain the symptoms and changes seen by echocardiography and angiography in these children. Retrospective chart review and pathologic study of explanted heart grafts was performed on 12 patients that had undergone 14 heart re-transplantations. Clinical status, echocardiographic and catheterization data at the time of transplantation were correlated to the pathologic findings.

Screening for rejection in symptomatic pediatric heart transplant recipients: the sensitivity of BNP.

As the pediatric OHT population expands, there is increasing demand for convenient, yet sensitive screening techniques to identify children with acute rejection when they present to acute care facilities. In children, symptoms of acute rejection or other causes of graft dysfunction are often non-specific and can mimic other childhood illnesses. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of BNP as a biomarker to assist providers in clinical decision-making when evaluating symptomatic pediatric heart transplant patients.

Muronomab-CD3 for pediatric acute myocarditis.

The treatment of pediatric acute myocarditis that is hemodynamically significant often includes immune modulation with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and steroids, and supportive measures. In this population, published outcomes include recovery of ventricular function from 6 months to years, transplantation, or death. We studied the effect of the immunosuppressive agent muronomab-CD3 (OKT3) on recovery of heart failure in the treatment of pediatric myocarditis.