Publications by authors named "Lw Ernest van Heurn"

Article Synopsis
  • Patients with pectus carinatum often experience lower quality of life and self-esteem, prompting a study on the effects of dynamic compression system bracing on these aspects.
  • In a study involving 225 patients aged 10-21, significant improvements were observed in quality of life scores within the first year of bracing treatment, specifically in physical and psychological health.
  • Most patients expressed high satisfaction with the treatment, with 87.2% indicating they would choose bracing again, despite no significant changes in anxiety levels.
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Background: Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is often used as tumour marker for recurrent sacrococcygeal teratoma (SCT). We aimed to assess the normal dynamics of serum AFP levels after initial resection and diagnostic accuracy of serum AFP levels the follow-up for recurrence in SCT.

Methods: This retrospective study included 57 patients treated for SCT in the six pediatric surgical centers in the Netherlands from 1980 to 2018.

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Extracellular histones are cytotoxic molecules involved in experimental acute kidney injury. In patients receiving a renal transplant from donors after circulatory death, who suffer from additional warm ischemia, worse graft outcome is associated with higher machine perfusate extracellular histone H3 concentrations. We now investigated temperature-dependent extracellular histone release in an ex vivo porcine renal perfusion model, and subsequently studied histone release in the absence and presence of non-anticoagulant heparin.

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Background: Surgery induced stress and anxiety in children and parents can be reduced by providing preoperative information adapted to their needs. Aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of three different information modalities (coloring page, mobile application and videos) to prepare children and their parents for day-care surgery on preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain experienced by the child, and preoperative anxiety and satisfaction of parents.

Methods: Prospective observational study including children and their parents that were offered specifically developed information modalities to prepare for day-care surgery.

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Background: Patients with Hirschsprung disease (HD) are at risk of persistent constipation, fecal incontinence or recurrent enterocolitis after surgical treatment, which in turn may impact physical and psychosocial functioning. Generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and disease-specific health-related quality of life are relevant outcome measures to assess the impact of HD on the QoL of these patients.

Aim: To summarize all available evidence on HRQoL of patients with HD after surgery and the impact of possible moderating factors.

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Background: Adhesions following abdominal surgery can cause small bowel obstruction (SBO) necessitating surgery. Whilst some studies have addressed SBO in children, the incidence of SBO, the diseases that are of increased risk as well as risk factors in young children remain unclear. Therefore, this study aims to determine; (1) the general incidence of SBO in young children, (2) which diseases entail highest incidence of SBO and (3) risk factors for SBO in young children.

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Purpose: Incisional hernia (IH) is a complication following abdominal surgery extensively studied in adults but less so in infants. This study aimed to identify the incidence, high risk diseases and risk factors of IH following abdominal surgery in infants.

Methods: Infants undergoing abdominal surgery before the age of three years in our tertiary centre between 1998 and 2018 were included.

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Background: In girls with inguinal hernia, timing of surgical repair to prevent ovarian strangulation and screening for Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) remain controversial. This study assesses the incidence of ovarian strangulation and AIS, and its associated risk factors.

Methods: Electronic patient records were used to study girls aged 0-15 years who underwent inguinal hernia repair between 2000 and 2017.

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Morbidly obese patients are most successfully treated with bariatric surgery. Although restrictive gastric surgery physically limits food intake, it is also suggested that eating behavior and food-reward mechanisms are affected. Therefore, eating behavior and food-reward were assessed in ten patients that underwent gastric volume reduction by endoscopic gastroplication.

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This study aims to (1) investigate the neuropathology of mild to severe pediatric TBI and (2) elucidate the predictive value of conventional and innovative neuroimaging for functional outcome. Children aged 8-14 years with trauma control (TC) injury (n = 27) were compared to children with mild TBI and risk factors for complicated TBI (mild, n = 20) or moderate/severe TBI (n = 17) at 2.8 years post-injury.

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An increasing number of elderly patients (≥65 years) receive a donor kidney from elderly donors after brain death (DBD) or after circulatory death (DCD). These organs are allocated within the Eurotransplant Senior Program, but outcomes must be evaluated. From the Dutch Organ Transplantation Registry, we selected 3597 recipients (≥18 years) who received a first DBD or DCD kidney during 2002-2012, and categorized them as young or elderly recipients receiving a graft from either a young or elderly donor, stratified by donor type.

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Objective: To provide an integrated insight into the kinetics of tubular injury, inflammation, and oxidative stress after human kidney transplantation.

Background: Tissue injury due to ischemia and reperfusion is an inevitable consequence of kidney transplantation. Tubular epithelial injury, inflammation, and oxidative stress play major roles in the pathophysiology of acute kidney injury in small animals, but it remains to be established whether this paradigm holds true for human kidney transplantation.

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Background: Expansion of the organ donor pool can be obtained through novel interventions attenuating ischemic acute kidney injury, which will enable the use of kidneys that suffered prolonged ischemia. In basic science, new therapeutic targets are identified that should be tested in a relevant large animal model before use in human kidney transplantation.

Materials And Methods: The current paper provides a detailed description of the technique of autologous transplantation of ischemically injured kidneys in pigs with special emphasis on perioperative care.

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Redox-active iron, catalyzing the generation of reactive oxygen species, has been implicated in experimental renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, in clinical transplantation, it is unknown whether redox-active iron is involved in the pathophysiology of ischemic injury of non-heart-beating (NHB) donor kidneys. We measured redox-active iron concentrations in perfusate samples of 231 deceased donor kidneys that were preserved by machine pulsatile perfusion at our institution between May 1998 and November 2002 using the bleomycin detectable iron assay.

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Cholangitis occurred in 59% of 77 patients who underwent the portoenterostomy procedure for biliary atresia between 1980 and 2000. Good postoperative bile drainage was associated with a lower risk of cholangitis than partial (odds ratio, 5.72; 95% CI, 2.

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Purpose: Hirschsprung's disease and anorectal malformation are congenital diseases of the digestive tract with sequelae into adulthood. The quality of life of patients with these diseases is largely unknown. The aim of the study was 1) to construct a self-report disease-specific instrument to assess the quality of life in these patients and 2) to evaluate its psychometric performance.

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