Sudden Death In Sports: Modern Concepts.

Regular physical activity provides significant health benefits and reduces the risk of premature death from any cause, including cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, physical activity may provoke sudden cardiac death (SCD), especially in presence of unrecognized diseases. It is essential to identify risk factors that contribute to SCD in athletes and to implement effective prevention of such episodes.

[Myocardial fatty dystrophy in patients with Fallot tetralogy].

Fatty degeneration (FD) was studied histochemically and ultrastructurally in surgical biopsies from 147 patients aged 22 days to 40 years with Fallot's tetralogy. FD was most pronounced in patients aged 3 to 6 years when the main part of cardiomyocytes completed the program of ontogenetical growth and started growing as hypertrophic mature cells. An increase of FD is considered as manifestation of an initial stage of hypertrophy of mature cardiomyocytes.

[Hematological characteristics in blood autoanalysis in children with congenital heart defects].

Hematological status of infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) was evaluated by automated systems. Blood analyses were carried out in 40 infants with the pale type and in 20 with the blue type CHD. Increased erythrocyte count and hematocrit were detected in the blue type CHD.

[Morphofunctional analysis of right ventricle cardiomyocytes in patients with Fallot's tetrad during first year of life].

Material of intrasurgical biopsies of the right ventricular (RV) myocardium of 28 patients with Fallot's tetrad was studied with light and electron microscopy. RV cardiomyocytes were hypertrophic and showed signs of growth and differentiation. Myofibrillogenesis intensity directly correlated with the pressure gradient between RV and pulmonary artery.

[The results of the surgical treatment of aortic coarctation in nursing infants with a sharp decrease in left ventricular pumping function].

Two-dimensional echocardiography was conducted in 24 patients, aged from 14 days to 12 months, suffering from coarctation of the aorta (CA) with the left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) less than 30%. The symptom of LV fibroelastosis was found in only 16.7% of patients.

[The use of polytetrafluoroethylene vascular prostheses (Gore-Tex) for subclavian-pulmonary anastomosis in children with tetralogy of Fallot].

The paper provides the results of a modified subclavian pulmonary anastomosis by employing Gore-Tex vascular prostheses in 91 babies with Fallot's tetrad whose age was 10 days to 32 months and weight was 3.6 to 15 kg. In 89 patients, the operation was performed by using a prosthesis, 4-6 mm in diameter, without crossing the subclavian artery, whereas in 2 patients, this was done by lengthening the crossed short subclavian artery.

[Evaluation of peripheral circulation in infants with aortic coarctation by transcutaneous pO2 measurement].

Fourteen patients 6 weeks to 8 months of age with coarctation of the aorta (CA) were examined before and after correction of the anomaly. In inspiration of increasing concentrations of O2 the TavO2 was progressively delayed below CA as compared to the region above CA, which reflected latent tissue oxygen deficiency. After CA correction the TavO2 values were practically the same in both regions.

[Surgical treatment of congenital heart defects with pulmonary hypertension in children during their 1st year of life under the conditions of extracorporeal circulation].

In the period between 1983 and 1987 operations were carried out on 204 children aged from 25 days to 12 months (body weight of 3 to 10 kg) for congenital heart diseases and pulmonary hypertension. Surgery for ventricular septal defect was undertaken on 173 patients (total mortality 6.9%), transposition of the major vessels with concurrent ventricular septal defect was corrected by Senning's method in 9 patients (mortality 11%), total anomalous pulmonary vein drainage was relieved in 14 patients (mortality 28.

[Analysis of hospital mortality of patients with congenital heart defects in the 1st year of life].

Causes of mortality were analysed in a group of 122 patients with congenital heart disease in their first year of life following conservative management, closed surgery and operations under assisted circulation. Fatal outcomes were predetermined by a severe congenital defect in 18.2% of the patients, while in the remaining cases they could basically have been prevented by means of a timely primary diagnosis and referral to a specialized clinical institution, accurate topical diagnosis, correct assessment of the severity of the patients' condition and improved post-operative intensive care.