Sydenham chorea in the top end of Australia's Northern Territory: A 20-year retrospective case series.

Aim: Sydenham chorea is an immune-mediated neuropsychiatric condition, and a major criterion for diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever (ARF). Children in remote Northern Australia experience disproportionately high rates of ARF, yet studies looking at the epidemiology, clinical presentation and management of Sydenham chorea are limited in this population.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective case series from January 2002 to April 2022 of all paediatric patients aged ≤18 years admitted to Royal Darwin Hospital with Sydenham chorea.

Single-View Echocardiography by Nonexpert Practitioners to Detect Rheumatic Heart Disease: A Prospective Study of Diagnostic Accuracy.

Background: Echocardiographic screening can detect asymptomatic cases of rheumatic heart disease (RHD), facilitating access to treatment. Barriers to implementation of echocardiographic screening include the requirement for expensive equipment and expert practitioners. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of an abbreviated echocardiographic screening protocol (single parasternal-long-axis view with a sweep of the heart) performed by briefly trained, nonexpert practitioners using handheld ultrasound devices.

Rheumatic heart disease in Timor-Leste school students: an echocardiography-based prevalence study.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in school-aged children and young people in Timor-Leste.

Design: Prospective cross-sectional survey. Echocardiography was performed by Australian cardiologists to determine the presence of RHD.

Rheumatic heart disease in Indigenous children in northern Australia: differences in prevalence and the challenges of screening.

Objectives: To compare regional differences in the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) detected by echocardiographic screening in high-risk Indigenous Australian children, and to describe the logistical and other practical challenges of RHD screening.

Design: Cross-sectional screening survey performed between September 2008 and November 2010.

Setting: Thirty-two remote communities in four regions of northern and central Australia.

Utility of auscultatory screening for detecting rheumatic heart disease in high-risk children in Australia's Northern Territory.

Objectives: To evaluate the utility of auscultatory screening for detecting echocardiographically confirmed rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in high-risk children in the Northern Territory, Australia.

Design: Cross-sectional screening survey.

Setting: Twelve rural and remote communities in the NT between September 2008 and June 2010.