Modifiable Health Behaviours in Children with HCM: Lessons from the Heart Health Survey.

Obesity factors into hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)-related risk as a disease modifying environmental factor. Behaviours such as diet and sleep are seldom reported upon in children with HCM. It was our aim to report on these factors in this population.

Exploring Health-Related Quality of Life in Children With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Relationship to Physical Activity.

Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a burdensome condition that inflicts both physical and psychological impairment on those with the disease, negatively impacting health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Given the abundance of evidence suggesting a role of physical activity (PA) in modulating HRQoL in healthy populations of children, we sought to determine the relationship between HRQoL and PA in children diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Methods And Results: A multicenter prospective observational cohort study was conducted, with patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy aged 10 to 19 years being provided a wrist-worn activity tracker (Fitbit Charge HR) to wear for 14 days.

Incremental Detection of Severe Congenital Heart Disease by Fetal Echocardiography Following a Normal Second Trimester Ultrasound Scan in Québec, Canada.

Background: The benefit of fetal echocardiograms (FE) to detect severe congenital heart diseases (SCHD) in the setting of a normal second-trimester ultrasound is unclear. We aimed to assess whether the increase in SCHD detection rates when FE are performed for risk factors in the setting of a normal ultrasound was clinically significant to justify the resources needed.

Methods: This is a multicenter, population-based, retrospective cohort study, including all singleton pregnancies and offspring in Quebec (Canada) between 2007 and 2015.

Right atrial catheter "ghost" removal by cardiac surgery: A pediatric case series report.

Fibrin sheath formation around long-term indwelling central venous catheters is common and usually benign. Fibrin sheath can persist after catheter removal and rarely leads to complications. This is a report of three pediatric oncology patients that required cardiac surgery for cardiac embolization of a "ghost" catheter several years after catheter removal.

More Than 25 Years of Experience With the Ross Procedure in Children: A Single-Center Experience.

Background: Aortic valve replacement in children represents an important challenge. Concerns regarding pulmonary autograft and homograft longevity requiring reoperations are well recognized. Very long-term outcomes after the Ross procedure are still unknown.

Rationale and Design of the FREQUENCY Study: The Fetal Cardiac Registry of Québec to Improve Resource Utilization in Fetal Cardiology.

Objective: Prenatal detection of congenital heart diseases (CHD) decreases morbidity and cost. To improve detections rates, most physicians refer pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies to fetal cardiologists even when there is no suspicion of CHD at the second trimester screening. This paper presents the rationale and detailed method of the Fetal Cardiac Registry of Québec to Improve Resource Utilization in Fetal Cardiology (FREQUENCY) study.

Relationship between interatrial communication, ductus arteriosus, and pulmonary flow patterns in fetuses with transposition of the great arteries: prediction of neonatal desaturation.

Background: The relationship between interatrial communication, ductus arteriosus, and pulmonary flow in transposition of the great arteries and intact ventricular septum may help predict postnatal desaturation.

Methods: Echocardiographic data of 45 fetuses with transposition of the great arteries and intact ventricular septum and 50 age-matched controls were retrospectively reviewed. Interatrial communication, left and right ventricular output, flow in the ductus arteriosus, as well as effective pulmonary flow were measured.

Comparing Carotid and Brachial Artery Stiffness: A First Step Toward Mechanical Mapping of the Arterial Tree.

Arterial stiffness is a predictor of cardiovascular mortality. It increases with age and is accelerated by hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors. In addition to the disease state, arterial stiffness increases from the proximal to the distal arterial compartments.

Uhl's anomaly: a difficult prenatal diagnosis.

Uhl's anomaly is an evolutive disease leading to terminal right ventricular failure. The most difficult differential diagnosis at presentation is the Ebstein disease. We describe the evolution of a foetus with Uhl's anomaly from 21 to 30 weeks of gestation, with progressive reduction in the right ventricular anterior myocardium suggestive of apoptosis, leading to foetal demise.

Carotid wall elastography to assess midterm vascular dysfunction secondary to intrauterine growth restriction: feasibility and comparison with standardized intima-media thickness.

Several studies have suggested that intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and early atherosclerosis. Early detection of arteriopathy is essential to early intervention. Although arterial intima-media thickness (IMT) is considered an index of subclinical atherosclerosis in the adult, its validity in pediatric patients may be limited.

The biophysical properties of the aorta are altered following Kawasaki disease.

Background: The long-term sequelae of Kawasaki disease (KD) are based on the coronary complications. Because KD causes generalized vasculitis, with documented aneurysms in the femoral, iliac, renal, axillary, and brachial arteries, the aim of this study was to assess the biophysical properties of the aorta (BPA) after KD. The BPA are biometric measurements representing vascular structural and dynamic changes in response to cardiac work.