Advocacy at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

The (WCPCCS) will be held in Washington DC, USA, from Saturday, 26 August, 2023 to Friday, 1 September, 2023, inclusive. The will be the largest and most comprehensive scientific meeting dedicated to paediatric and congenital cardiac care ever held. At the time of the writing of this manuscript, has 5,037 registered attendees (and rising) from 117 countries, a truly diverse and international faculty of over 925 individuals from 89 countries, over 2,000 individual abstracts and poster presenters from 101 countries, and a Best Abstract Competition featuring 153 oral abstracts from 34 countries.

Rheumatic heart disease control: the time for a paradigm shift.

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a completely preventable, life-threatening complication of group A streptococcal pharyngitis and the commonest cause of acquired heart disease in children and young adults in low- and middle-income countries. Conventional control measures are faced with many obstacles including the difficulty of early diagnosis of bacterial pharyngitis and acute rheumatic fever (ARF) leading to late presentation with established RHD which is not curable. Recent evidence confirmed the role of echocardiography screening of asymptomatic children in the early detection of 'latent' RHD.

Echocardiographic surveillance of rheumatic heart disease in West and North Darfur compared with Kassala State: socioeconomic or genetic differences?

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD), a preventable complication of group A beta-haemolytic streptococcal infection, is highly prevalent in Sudan. Echocardiographic (echo) screening has an established role in disease surveillance. This study aims to measure the echo prevalence of RHD using handheld echo (HHE) in West and North Darfur and Kassala states and initiate control programs.

The WHF Roadmap for Reducing CV Morbidity and Mortality Through Prevention and Control of RHD.

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a preventable non-communicable condition that disproportionately affects the world's poorest and most vulnerable. The World Heart Federation Roadmap for improved RHD control is a resource designed to help a variety of stakeholders raise the profile of RHD nationally and globally, and provide a framework to guide and support the strengthening of national, regional and global RHD control efforts. The Roadmap identifies the barriers that limit access to and uptake of proven interventions for the prevention and control of RHD.

Lutembacher syndrome variant: Rheumatic heart disease involving all four valves and associated with an atrial septal defect in a child.

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children and young adults in developing countries. It results from throat infection with group A beta hemolytic streptococcus that proceeds to acute rheumatic fever (ARF). We report a 13 years old girl from Darfur presenting with recurrent acute rheumatic fever for 4 years that led to affection of all her heart valves with severe mitral and tricuspid regurgitation together with moderate pulmonary and mild aortic valve regurgitation.

Rationale and design of the African group A streptococcal infection registry: the AFROStrep study.

Introduction: Group A β-haemolytic Streptococcus (GAS), a Gram-positive bacterium, also known as Streptococcus pyogenes, causes pyoderma, pharyngitis and invasive disease. Repeated GAS infections may lead to autoimmune diseases such as acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Invasive GAS (iGAS) disease is an important cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide.

Noncompaction cardiomyopathy: A new mechanism for mitral regurgitation with distinct clinical, echocardiographic features and pathological correlations.

Unlabelled: Noncompaction cardiomyopathy (NCCM) is a primary, genetic cardiomyopathy with variable clinical manifestations that include mitral regurgitation (MR).

Methods: This study comprised patients diagnosed with NCCM and MR in two cardiac centers (King Abdul-Aziz Cardiac Center, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Sudan Heart Institute, Khartoum, Sudan), and seen in the period between 2002 and 2013. The study describes follow up, clinical, echocardiographic, and histopathological findings.

Evaluation of physicians' knowledge about prevention of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease before and after a teaching session.

Rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart disease RHD remain as one of the major cardiovascular problems in Sudanese children. The cornerstones for control of RF and RHD are primary and secondary preventions as adopted by Sudan's programme. This study aimed to describe and raise the paediatric doctors' awareness about prevention of RF and RHD using lectures.

The control of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease: a call to raise the awareness.

Although the incidence of rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has declined in the developed world and many developing countries, yet it is still high in many countries including Sudan. The decline of frequency of RF in these countries is largely due to improved medical services leading to wide use of antibiotics to treat bacterial pharyngitis. In many developing countries, the incidence is decreased due to development of integrated control programs.

Isolated subpulmonic fibrous ring, mirror-image dextrocardia and situs solitus in a young lady unreported and a near miss.

Congenital diseases causing obstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) are common, but the isolated subpulmonary membrane/ring is extremely rare and can be difficult to diagnose precisely, especially in adults. We report a case of surgically resected isolated subpulmonic fibrous ring in a lady with mirror-image dextrocardia and abdominal situs solitus that was misdiagnosed by echocardiography as a subaortic membrane.

Clinical and echocardiographic features of children with rheumatic heart disease and their serum cytokine profile.

Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) constitute important public health problems in developing countries. Children with ARF and RHD seen at Children's Hospital-Sudan from May 2008-2009 were examined clinically and by echocardiography. Blood cytokines (interleukin 10 (IL10), Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF- alpha) and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) were done.

Paediatric cardiology programs in countries with limited resources: how to bridge the gap.

Establishing paediatric cardiology service in a country with limited resources like Sudan is a challenging task. A paediatric cardiac team was formed then the services in different disciplines were gradually established. Echocardiography (echo) clinics were founded in tertiary and peripheral hospitals.

Ventricular noncompaction: Over or under diagnosis?

Ventricular noncompaction (VNC) describes a cardiomyopathy characterized by excessive myocardial trabeculations and deep intertrabecular recesses. Detection rates are increasingly rising and the frequency of NVC has changed from a disease that is thought to be rare to that described as 'relatively common'. However, there had been a number of un-answered questions regarding the clinical and echocardiographic features of VNC.

Endomyocardial fibrosis: an under-diagnosed cause of cardiomyopathy in Sudanese children.

Endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF) is a tropical cardiomyopathy reported in many tropical countries. Patients were seen at the Children's Hospital-Khartoum, Sudan during September 2007-08 where cardiac evaluation was done. Six patients were identified (18% of all children with cardiomyopathy); all were males aged 8-17 years.

Unique features of non-compaction of the ventricular myocardium in Arab and African patients.

Non-compaction of the ventricular myocardium (NCVM) is an under-diagnosed cardiomyopathy. Patients diagnosed with NCVM at the King Abdulaziz Cardiac Centre, Riyadh, KSA from January 2000 to July 2004 and at the Sudan Heart Centre from August 2004 to July 2007 were included. Fifty-two patients with NCVM were identified (22 per 10 000 echocardiograms).

Renal calculi complicating short-term furosemide therapy after congenital heart surgery.

Background: Renal calcification is a known complication of Furosemide therapy.

Methods: We describe 3 children who were diagnosed with renal calculi, not nephrocalcinosis, following the use of Furosemide for 4 weeks. All the infants (24, 18, and 8 months) had successful repair/palliation of congenital heart disease.

Clinical and echocardiographic features of Ebstein's malformation in Sudanese patients.

Unlabelled: Ebstein's malformation is a rare congenital cardiac malformation, accounting for about 0.5% of all congenital cardiac lesions. We report our experience with the anomaly as encountered at the Sudan Heart Centre from July 2004 to April 2005.