Success and limitations of right ventricular sinus myectomy for pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum.

Objectives: Right ventricular sinus myectomy has been proposed for pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum for morphology falling within the uncertain area for eventual biventricular repair. Our objective was to evaluate right ventricular sinus myectomy by characterizing the morphologic spectrum of these patients, determining whether biventricular repair was achieved, ascertaining growth of right-sided structures, and assessing survival.

Methods: We evaluated medical records, all imaging studies, and follow-up data (complete in all but 1 patient) from 43 patients with pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum treated from October 1993 to July 2005, 16 of whom underwent right ventricular sinus myectomy.

Perioperative serum interleukins in neonates with hypoplastic left-heart syndrome and transposition of the great arteries.

Objective: The primary study objective was to examine the impact of diagnosis on the inflammatory response in neonates with congenital heart disease undergoing cardiac surgery. The secondary objective was to study the impact of the inflammatory response on postoperative outcome in these neonates.

Design: Observational study.

Aortic valve repair for congenital abnormalities of the aortic valve.

Background: Due to shortcomings of any valve replacement, repairing and retaining the native valve may be beneficial for congenital aortic valve disease.

Methods: Retrospective review of data and follow-up of aortic valve repair from a single institution.

Results: From 1993 to 2001, 56 patients underwent aortic valve repair [median age 13.

Quantitative analysis of procalcitonin after pediatric cardiothoracic surgery.

Procalcitonin appears to be an early and sensitive marker of bacterial infection in a variety of clinical settings. The use of levels of procalcitonin to predict infection in children undergoing cardiac surgery, however, may be complicated by the systemic inflammatory response that normally accompanies cardiopulmonary bypass. The aim of our study was to estimate peri-operative concentrations of procalcitonin in non-infected children undergoing cardiac surgery.