Publications by authors named "O Kretschmar"
Patients with complex congenital heart disease (cCHD) are at risk for neurodevelopmental impairments, yet many patients develop normally. This study investigated associations between a favorable neurodevelopmental profile and protective factors, quality of life (QoL), resilience, and brain development. Adolescents with cCHD ( = 100) were prospectively enrolled.
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- The study investigates brain connectivity changes in adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD) compared to healthy controls, focusing on how clinical risk factors and environmental influences affect these alterations.
- Using advanced imaging and neuropsychological tests, researchers found that adolescents with CHD have preserved overall network structure but reduced connectivity strength in specific brain subnetworks, which is linked to poorer executive function.
- Findings suggest that a higher cumulative clinical risk score in these patients correlates with poorer network performance and cognitive outcomes, emphasizing the need for targeted assessments in CHD patients.
Article Synopsis
- Some babies with heart problems who have open-heart surgery might have delays in moving and parents can worry a lot about this.
- A new program called EMI-Heart was created to help these babies develop their motor skills and also support their families.
- In a study, many families tried this program, and both the parents and therapists thought it was helpful, but the babies' movement abilities didn't really change much compared to those who got regular care.
Background: Heart Rate Variability (HRV) originates from the interplay between parasympathetic/sympathetic inputs to the heart, thus serving as an indicator of Autonomic Nervous System regulation. Prior research indicates that decreased HRV, marked by reduced autonomic balance, is related to poorer cognitive performance. While the population with congenital heart disease (CHD) show changes in HRV linked with the heart defect, the association between HRV and cognitive functions in CHD remains unexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess processing speed, fine motor function, attention, and executive function (EF) impairments in adolescents with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) who underwent open-heart surgery during infancy.
Study Design: We administered a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery evaluating 5 EF domains: working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, fluency, and planning and primary neurodevelopmental processes (PNPs): processing speed, fine motor function, and attention. The sample included 100 adolescents with complex CHD from a previous University Children's Hospital Zurich study, with 104 healthy controls for comparison.