Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Enhances Interstage Growth in Infants With Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.

Objectives: Infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome undergoing staged palliation commonly experience chronic growth failure and malnutrition. Greater patient weight at stage 2 palliation (Glenn) is thought to be associated with improved perioperative outcomes. We aimed to compare weight for age z score and interstage growth velocity in children with and without a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy prior to Glenn and hypothesize that those with a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy experience-enhanced interstage growth and reduced malnutrition rates.

Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy After Cardiothoracic Surgery in Children Less Than 2 Months Old: An Assessment of Long-Term Malnutrition Status and Gastrostomy Outcomes.

Objectives: Infants with critical congenital heart disease undergoing cardiothoracic surgery commonly experience chronic malnutrition and growth failure. We sought to determine whether placement of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy was associated with reduced moderate-severe malnutrition status and to describe percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy-related clinical and safety outcomes in this population.

Design: Single-center, retrospective cohort study.

Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum and congenital left ventricular aneurysm.

Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum and congenital left ventricular aneurysms are both rare, representing <1 and <0.1% of CHD, respectively. The association of left ventricular aneurysms and pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum has been documented in the literature, but all the previous case reports have involved children with acquired left ventricular aneurysms.

Postoperative Abdominal NIRS Values Predict Low Cardiac Output Syndrome in Neonates.

Background: The development of low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS) after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) occurs in up to 25% of neonates and is associated with increased morbidity. Invasive cardiac output monitors such as pulmonary artery catheters have limited availability and are costly. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a noninvasive tool for monitoring regional oxygenation in neonates in the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU).