The association of the Mediterranean diet with heart failure risk in a Dutch population.

Background And Aims: It is still unclear whether a healthy diet can prevent heart failure (HF). Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet, reflected by modified Mediterranean Diet Scores (mMDS), and the incidence of HF in men and women.

Methods And Results: This observational study comprised 9316 men and 27,645 women from the EPIC-NL cohort free from cardiovascular disease at baseline.

Cardiac Valve Annulus Diameters in Extremely Preterm Infants: A Cross-Sectional Echocardiographic Study.

Background: With the increasing incidence of births of very preterm very-low-birth-weight infants, there is a demand for echocardiographic reference values of cardiac dimensions.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to provide reference values of cardiac valve annulus diameters in a cohort of extremely preterm very-low-birth-weight neonates and to correlate these with patient characteristics.

Methods: Valve diameters of 376 infants of < 32 weeks' gestation and with a birth weight of ≤2,000 g were measured using 2-dimensional echocardiography.

Long-term results of balloon angioplasty for native coarctation of the aorta in childhood in comparison with surgery.

Objectives: Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) can be treated either surgically or with balloon angioplasty (BA). Long-term follow-up for either treatment has been limited. Our objective was to compare long-term results of BA and surgery for treatment of native CoA in childhood.

Computational fluid dynamics in Fontan patients to evaluate power loss during simulated exercise.

Objective: Exercise intolerance is common in total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) patients. It has been suggested that power loss (Ploss) inside the TCPC plays a role in reduced exercise performance. Our objective is to establish the role of Ploss inside the TCPC during increased flow, simulating exercise in a patient-specific way.

Ventricular response to dobutamine stress relates to the change in peak oxygen uptake during the 5-year follow-up in young patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot.

Aims: To evaluate the additional value of dobutamine stress testing in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) by relating stress imaging parameters at baseline to relevant parameters of clinical condition and right ventricular (RV) size during a serial follow-up.

Methods And Results: We prospectively included 27 patients (14 ± 4 years at baseline), who were studied twice with a 5-year interval. Patients underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging to assess RV systolic and diastolic function at rest and during dobutamine stress.

Exercise capacity in children with isolated congenital complete atrioventricular block: does pacing make a difference?

The management of patients with isolated congenital complete atrioventricular block (CCAVB) has changed during the last decades. The current policy is to pace the majority of patients based on a variety of criteria, among which is limited exercise capacity. Data regarding exercise capacity in this population stems from previous publications reporting small case series of unpaced patients.

Pediatric pulmonary hypertension in the Netherlands: epidemiology and characterization during the period 1991 to 2005.

Background: Incidence and prevalence rates for pediatric pulmonary hypertension (PH) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are unknown. This study describes the nationwide epidemiological features of pediatric PH in the Netherlands during a 15-year period and the clinical course of pediatric PAH.

Methods And Results: Two registries were used to retrospectively identify children (0-17 years) with PH.

Juxtaductal coarctation of both pulmonary arteries in a cat.

A 4-year-old, male, neutered cat was referred because of recurrent episodes of dyspnea. Physical examination revealed a harsh systolic murmur, with the point of maximal intensity in the left heart base, with an intensity of 4 out of 6. Echocardiographic diagnosis was severe supravalvular pulmonary artery stenosis.

Outcome of pediatric patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension in the era of new medical therapies.

Little is known about the effects of "second-generation drugs" (prostanoids, endothelin receptor antagonists, 5-phosphodiesterase inhibitors) in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This study describes the outcome of a national cohort of children with PAH in an era when these drugs became available. From 1993 to 2008, 52 consecutive children with idiopathic PAH (n = 29) or systemic-to-pulmonary shunt-associated PAH (n = 23) underwent baseline and follow-up assessments.

Minimizing circulatory arrest by using antegrade cerebral perfusion for aortic arch reconstruction in infants causes fewer postoperative adverse events.

Background: Because deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) carries a risk for neurological damage, antegrade cerebral perfusion (ACP) is used increasingly for aortic arch surgery in infants. We assessed the short-term effects of minimal DHCA (< 30 minutes) versus prolonged DHCA (> 30 minutes) during biventricular aortic arch reconstruction.

Methods: Twenty-six infants (< 3 months of age) who had undergone aortic arch reconstruction were retrospectively analyzed: 15 infants without DHCA (group A) and 11 infants with DHCA (group B).

A multicenter, long-term study on arrhythmias in children with Ebstein anomaly.

To assess the prevalence, history, and treatment of arrhythmias, in particular preexcitation and Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, in patients with Ebstein anomaly (EA) during childhood and adolescence, we performed a multicenter retrospective study of all consecutive live-born patients with EA, diagnosed, and followed by pediatric cardiologists between 1980 and 2005 in The Netherlands. During a follow-up after EA diagnosis of 13 years 3 months (range: 6 days to 28 years 2 months), 16 (17%) of the 93 pediatric EA patients exhibited rhythm disturbances. Nine patients showed arrhythmic events starting as of the neonatal period.

Safety and observer variability of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging combined with low-dose dobutamine stress-testing in patients with complex congenital heart disease.

Background: In patients with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) abnormal ventricular stress responses have been reported with dobutamine stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance (DCMR). These abnormal stress responses are potential indicators of long-term outcome. However, safety and reproducibility of this technique has not been reported in a larger study.

Clinical outcome 5 to 18 years after the Fontan operation performed on children younger than 5 years.

Objective: This study assessed clinical condition at midterm follow-up after total cavopulmonary connection for a functionally univentricular heart performed on children younger than 5 years.

Methods: Thirty-four Fontan patients (median age 10.4 years, range 6.

Clinical characterization of pediatric pulmonary hypertension: complex presentation and diagnosis.

Objectives: To describe the clinical presentation of pediatric pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and the intricacies of how to classify pediatric PAH according to the Venice classification.

Study Design: Children (n = 63) seen at a national referral center for pediatric PAH underwent a diagnostic work-up for diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and associated conditions and for assessment of the explanatory role of associated conditions for the PH. Subsequently, PH was classified.

Rewiring the heart: stem cell therapy to restore normal cardiac excitability and conduction.

The regenerative capacity of the mammalian heart is insufficient to recover from myocardial infarction. Stem cells are currently considered as a promising and valuable tool to replace the, often large, loss of contractile tissue. One of the bottlenecks hampering fast clinical application is the large amount of cells required to replace a single damaged region combined with an appropriate strategy to succeed in homogeneous repair.

Pulmonary artery size and function after Fontan operation at a young age.

Purpose: To assess pulmonary artery (PA) size, flow variables, and wall shear stress (WSS) in patients after Fontan operation at a young age.

Materials And Methods: Flow in the branch PA was obtained with phase contrast velocity-encoded cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in 14 patients before and after low-dose dobutamine stress (7.5 microg/kg/min) and in 17 healthy controls at rest.

Successful percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty in a preterm infant weighing 1500 g with critical pulmonary valve stenosis.

We describe a successful cardiac intervention in an infant, born at 32 weeks of gestation, with a birth weight of 1040 g, who had a critical pulmonary valve stenosis with the right ventricular pressure twice the systemic pressure. Continuous prostaglandin E infusion kept the arterial duct open and at the age of four weeks and a weight of 1500 g a balloon valvuloplasty was performed, which reduced the systolic right ventricular pressure to below the systemic pressure. Two weeks later the procedure was repeated because of increasing right ventricular pressure.

Cardiovascular follow-up at school age after perinatal glucocorticoid exposure in prematurely born children: perinatal glucocorticoid therapy and cardiovascular follow-up.

Objective: To study whether antenatal or neonatal glucocorticoid therapy to reduce the incidence and severity of chronic lung disease in preterm infants is associated with long-term adverse cardiac effects and hypertension.

Design: Retrospective matched-cohort study.

Setting: Outpatient clinic of a tertiary care hospital.

Assessment of biventricular functional reserve and NT-proBNP levels in patients with RV volume overload after repair of tetralogy of Fallot at young age.

Purpose: To assess biventricular functional reserve (FR), NT-proBNP levels and exercise performance, in relation to right ventricular volume in patients with pulmonary regurgitation (PR) after repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) at young age.

Methods: In 53 TOF patients (maximum age at repair 2.0 years, interval since repair 15 (5) years) without residual lesions except PR, biventricular FR (derived from magnetic resonance imaging with dobutamine stress), NT-proBNP levels, maximal workload, and peak oxygen uptake were assessed.

Usefulness of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging combined with low-dose dobutamine stress to detect an abnormal ventricular stress response in children and young adults after fontan operation at young age.

After Fontan operation, patients are limited in increasing cardiac output and in exercise capacity. This has been related to impaired preload or other factors leading to decreased global ventricular performance with stress. To study these factors, the stress responses of functionally univentricular hearts were assessed at rest and during low-dose dobutamine stress using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging.

Down syndrome: a novel risk factor for respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis--a prospective birth-cohort study.

Objectives: Respiratory syncytial virus is the single-most important cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children. Preterm birth and congenital heart disease are known risk factors for severe respiratory syncytial virus infections. Although Down syndrome is associated with a high risk of respiratory tract infections, little is known about the incidence of respiratory syncytial virus infections in this group.

Ebstein's anomaly: factors associated with death in childhood and adolescence: a multi-centre, long-term study.

Aims: The objective of this study is to establish factors associated with death after diagnosis of Ebstein's anomaly (EA) during childhood and adolescence.

Methods And Results: This study is a retrospective chart review. All paediatric patients were diagnosed with EA and followed in tertiary-care university hospitals between 1980 and 2005.

Pentalogy of Cantrell : successful early correction.

The pentalogy of Cantrell is a rare midline developmental field complex often with a dismal outcome. We present a newborn qualifying for Cantrell's pentalogy with an abdominal wall defect, a diaphragmatic defect and a heart defect, a ventricular septal defect (VSD) and a left ventricular diverticulum. Early operative correction following accurate diagnostic work-up was prompted at the age of 11 weeks because of progressive heart failure.

Exercise limitation in patients with Fontan circulation: a review.

The aim of the current literature study was to perform a literature review of the factors contributing to exercise limitation and physiological response to exercise in patients with Fontan circulation. In patients with Fontan circulation, peak oxygen uptake ranged from about 14.4 to 32.

Exercise prescription for patients with a Fontan circulation: current evidence and future directions.

It is well documented that children with a Fontan circulation have a reduced exercise capacity. One of the modalities to improve exercise capacity might be exercise training. We performed a systematic literature review on the effects of exercise training in patients with a Fontan circulation.