Cardiogenic Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Infants with Congenital Heart Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a known cause of morbidity and mortality in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD), but reports about the burden of cardiogenic NEC frequently conflict. To synthesize the extant literature on the incidence, risk factors, and prognosis of NEC in patients with CHD. Medline, Cochrane, and EMBASE were searched from 1946 through 2023 for studies of NEC in infants 0-12 months of age with CHD.

Successful Reduction of Postoperative Chest Tube Duration and Length of Stay After Congenital Heart Surgery: A Multicenter Collaborative Improvement Project.

Background Congenital heart disease practices and outcomes vary significantly across centers, including postoperative chest tube (CT) management, which may impact postoperative length of stay (LOS). We used collaborative learning methods to determine whether centers could adapt and safely implement best practices for CT management, resulting in reduced postoperative CT duration and LOS. Methods and Results Nine pediatric heart centers partnered together through 2 learning networks.

Center Variation in Chest Tube Duration and Length of Stay After Congenital Heart Surgery.

Background: Nearly every child undergoing congenital heart surgery has chest tubes placed intraoperatively. Center variation in removal practices and impact on outcomes has not been well described. This study evaluated variation in chest tube management practices and outcomes across centers.

Collective quality improvement in the paediatric cardiology acute care unit: establishment of the Pediatric Acute Care Cardiology Collaborative (PAC3).

Collaborative quality improvement and learning networks have amended healthcare quality and value across specialities. Motivated by these successes, the Pediatric Acute Care Cardiology Collaborative (PAC3) was founded in late 2014 with an emphasis on improving outcomes of paediatric cardiology patients within cardiac acute care units; acute care encompasses all hospital-based inpatient non-intensive care. PAC3 aims to deliver higher quality and greater value care by facilitating the sharing of ideas and building alignment among its member institutions.

Aortopulmonary fistula after outflow tract stent in repaired truncus.

We present a case of an iatrogenic aortopulmonary (AP) fistula in a 9-year-old patient with a history of repaired truncus arteriosus without the use of a right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit and subsequent transcatheter placement of a right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) stent. Redilation of the stent resulted in a defect in the aortic wall and the creation of an AP fistula with an associated hemodynamically significant left to right shunt. This case demonstrates a previously unreported adverse event of transcatheter RVOT reintervention after truncus arteriosus repair.

A unique pattern of Tie1 expression in the developing murine lung.

The molecular mechanisms responsible for organ-specific differences in vascular development are not well established. Animals lacking the receptor tyrosine kinase Tie1 die of hemorrhage and pulmonary edema. Furthermore, cells lacking Tie1 are excluded from blood vessels of the mature lung.

Notch1 and Jagged1 expression by the developing pulmonary vasculature.

The molecular mechanisms of pulmonary vascular development are poorly understood. Cell-specific developmental pathways are influenced by cell-cell signaling. Notch signaling molecules are highly conserved receptors active in many cell-fate determination systems.