They Deserve to Live: Impact of the Berlin Heart EXCOR on Small Children's Heart Transplant Waitlist in Low-Resource Settings.

In newly emerging economy countries, the shortage of pediatric donor hearts and poor healthcare infrastructure poses a significant challenge. Although mechanical circulatory support (MCS) has been proven effective in enhancing heart transplant waiting list outcomes, economic barriers hinder its widespread adoption. A single-center retrospective study reviewed children under 10 kg on the heart transplant (HTx) list from 2012 to 2023.

Long-Term Effects of Pulmonary Valve Implantation and Prosthesis Evolution in Patients with Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot.

Background: Pulmonary valve regurgitation is a significant long-term complication in patients with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF).

Objective: This study aims to investigate the effects of pulmonary valve implantation (PVI) on the anatomy and function of the right ventricle (RV) and the long-term evolution of the implanted prosthesis in the pulmonary position.

Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort analysis was performed in 56 consecutive patients with TOF who underwent PVI.

Challenges of Congenital Heart Surgery in Brazil: It is Time to Designate Pediatric Congenital Heart Surgery Subspecialty.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects eight to ten out of every 1,000 births, resulting in approximately 23,057 new cases in Brazil in 2022. About one in four children with CHD requires surgery or other procedures in the first year of life, and it is expected that approximately 81% of these children with CHD will survive until at least 35 years of age. Professionals choosing to specialize in CHD surgery face numerous challenges, not only related to mastering surgical techniques and the complexity of the diseases but also to the lack of recognition by medical societies as a separate subspecialty.

Myocardial tissue expression of mRNA and preoperative neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in children undergoing congenital heart surgery.

Background: The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an easily accessible and inexpensive biomarker that has been shown to predict morbidity and mortality in congenital cardiac surgery. However, its regulatory mechanism remains unclear. This study aims to compare and correlate the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and IL-10 messenger RNAs (mRNAs) with the NLR in patients with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) and ventricular septal defect (VSD).

Heart Transplantation in Children and Adults With Congenital Heart Disease: 3 Decades of Evolution.

Heart transplantation is the treatment of choice for children and adults with congenital heart disease. We report the heart transplant single-center experience. The number of transplantations has increased over the last 3 decades.