Over 100 Fontan Patients on Systemic Ventricular Assist Device Support: An ACTION Update.

As the Fontan population grows, understanding successful strategies for ventricular assist device (VAD) support of the failing Fontan circulation is needed. We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with Fontan circulation and systemic VAD support in the Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network (ACTION) registry. Competing outcomes and Kaplan-Meier estimated survival methods were used.

Seventh Annual Society of Thoracic Surgeons Pedimacs Report.

Background: The Pediatric Interagency Registry for Mechanical Circulatory Support (Pedimacs), supported by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, provides detailed information on pediatric patients supported with ventricular assist devices (VADs).

Methods: From September 19, 2012, to December 31, 2022, 1463 devices in 1219 patients aged <19 years were reported to the registry from 40 North American hospitals.

Results: Cardiomyopathy remains the most common underlying etiology (59%), followed by congenital heart disease (26%) and myocarditis (8%).

Sixth Annual Pediatric Interagency Registry for Mechanical Circulatory Support (Pedimacs) Report: The Society Of Thoracic Surgeons Pedimacs Annual Report.

Background: The Pediatric Interagency Registry for Mechanical Circulatory Support (Pedimacs), supported by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, provides detailed information on pediatric patients supported with ventricular assist devices (VADs).

Methods: From September 19, 2012, to December 31, 2021, there were 1355 devices in 1109 patients (<19 years) from 42 North American Hospitals.

Results: Cardiomyopathy was the most common underlying cause (59%), followed by congenital heart disease (25%) and myocarditis (9%).

Peri-operative changes in diastolic function and outcomes in congenital aortic valve surgery.

Background: The ratio of early diastolic mitral inflow velocity (E) to early diastolic mitral annular tissue velocity (e'), or E/e', is an echocardiographic measure of left ventricular filling pressure. Peri-operative changes in E/e' and association with outcomes have been demonstrated in adults undergoing surgery for aortic stenosis (AS). We sought to explore changes in E/e' and other diastolic indices in the setting of congenital AS surgery and to assess for association with post-operative outcomes among children and young adults.

Food insecurity, housing instability, and dietary quality among children with sickle cell disease: Assessment from a single urban center.

Background: Food insecurity and housing instability, both social determinants of health (SDoH), disproportionately affect economically unstable, under-resourced US communities in which children with sickle cell disease (SCD) live. Association between these SDoH markers and dietary quality among children with SCD is unknown.

Procedures: We assessed a cross-sectional sample of dyadic parent-child patients and young adult patients up to age 21 from one pediatric SCD center.

Multicenter Outcomes of Catheter Ablation for Atrioventricular Reciprocating Tachycardia Mediated by Twin Atrioventricular Nodes.

Objectives: This study sought to describe the electrophysiologic properties and catheter ablation outcomes for atrioventricular reciprocating tacchycardia via twin atrioventricular nodes (T-AVRT).

Background: Although catheter ablation for T-AVRT is an established entity, there are few data on the electrophysiological properties and outcomes of this procedure.

Methods: An international, multicenter study was conducted to collect retrospective procedural and outcomes data for catheter ablation of T-AVRT.

Supraventricular Tachycardia Without Preexcitation as a Cause of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Pediatric Patients.

Sudden cardiac arrest in pediatric patients is a rare occurrence. Supraventricular tachycardia without the presence of ventricular preexcitation in pediatric patients with a structurally normal heart is generally considered benign. Previous literature in adults reported a subset of patients in whom SVT was suspected to be the primary trigger of sudden cardiac arrest.

Standalone Ayurvedic treatment of high-risk COVID-19 patients with multiple co-morbidities: A case series.

We report a case-series of Ayurvedic treatment in seven COVID-19 positive patients with multiple co-morbidities, categorized as high-risk for poor outcome from SARS-CoV-2 infection. All of them recovered completely from their illness with resolution of symptoms following Ayurvedic treatment. The data was collected from patients treated during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic (June 2020 to September 2020) at an out-patient Ayurvedic Clinic, Chennai, India.

Atretic Coronary Artery Ostia in a Full-Term Infant with Early Postnatal Demise.

Congenital coronary artery anomalies are extremely rare causes of early cardiac failure. Several cardiac lesions are associated with coronary anomalies such as pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum. Isolated coronary ostial atresia is extremely rare and described in only a few published case reports.

Effect of In Utero Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Therapy for Severe Ebstein Anomaly or Tricuspid Valve Dysplasia (NSAID Therapy for Fetal Ebstein anomaly).

Ebstein anomaly (EA) and tricuspid valve dysplasia (TVD) are rare congenital malformations associated with nearly 50% mortality when diagnosed in utero. The diseases often produce severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in the fetus and in some cases, pulmonary regurgitation (PR) and circular shunting ensue. Since the ductus arteriosus (DA) plays a critical role in the circular shunt and may be constricted by transplacental nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), we sought to assess the effect of NSAIDs on fetuses with EA/TVD.

Transcriptional analyses of adult and pediatric adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma reveals similar expression signatures regarding potential therapeutic targets.

Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) is a biologically benign but clinically aggressive lesion that has a significant impact on quality of life. The incidence of the disease has a bimodal distribution, with peaks occurring in children and older adults. Our group previously published the results of a transcriptome analysis of pediatric ACPs that identified several genes that were consistently overexpressed relative to other pediatric brain tumors and normal tissue.

Impact of Ondansetron Prescription on Return Emergency Department Visits Among Children with Acute Gastroenteritis.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine if providing ondansetron prescription to children with acute gastroenteritis seen in the emergency department (ED) is associated with reduced unscheduled ED revisits.

Methods: This was a retrospective comparative cohort study conducted in a tertiary urban pediatric ED. We evaluated otherwise healthy children 6 months to 18 years old who presented to the ED between 2010 and 2015 and were discharged home with acute gastroenteritis diagnosis.

Parent-directed intervention in promoting knowledge of pediatric nutrition and healthy lifestyle among low-SES families with toddlers: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the efficacy of an interactive, home visiting curriculum tailored to low socio-economic status families in improving parental knowledge of paediatric nutrition and healthy lifestyle.

Methods: Parents of toddlers aged 13-16 months living with a household income below 200% of the federal poverty line were randomized into healthy lifestyle intervention and control home visiting curriculum groups. Each curriculum consisted of 12 one-on-one educational sessions with parents facilitated by a trained home-visitor that were administered over a 6-month intervention period.

Variation in the management of isolated craniosynostosis: a survey of the Synostosis Research Group.

OBJECTIVEThe authors created a collaborative network, the Synostosis Research Group (SynRG), to facilitate multicenter clinical research on craniosynostosis. To identify common and differing practice patterns within the network, they assessed the SynRG surgeons' management preferences for sagittal synostosis. These results will be incorporated into planning cooperative studies.

Understanding Parental Preferences for Participants in Medical Decision-making for Their Hospitalized Children.

Objectives: Family-centered care promotes parental engagement in medical decision-making for hospitalized children. Little is understood about parental preferences and factors influencing the desire to involve extended family in decision-making. We explored parent and family member interest in participation in medical decision-making.

Disparities in Outcomes and Resource Use After Hospitalization for Cardiac Surgery by Neighborhood Income.

Background: Significant disparities exist between patients of different races and with different family incomes; less is understood regarding community-level factors on outcomes.

Methods: In this study, we used linked data from the Pediatric Health Information System database and the US Census Bureau to examine associations between median annual household income by zip code and mortality, length of stay, inpatient standardized costs, and costs per day, over and above the effects of race and payer, first for children undergoing cardiac surgery (2005-2015) and then for all pediatric discharges (2012-2015). Median community-level income was examined as continuous and categorical (by quartile) predictors.

Physician Attitudes toward the First Pediatric Appropriate Use Criteria and Engagement With Educational Intervention to Improve the Appropriateness of Outpatient Echocardiography.

Background: A survey of pediatric cardiologists who participated in the Pediatric Appropriate Use of Echocardiography study was conducted to assess attitudes toward appropriate use criteria (AUC) and the relationship between perceptions of usefulness of a multifaceted educational intervention (EI) and the appropriateness of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE).

Methods: Self-reported helpfulness and impact of a four-component EI (feedback of personal appropriateness data before EI, lecture, self-assignment of AUC indications, and monthly feedback) was surveyed. Physicians' perceptions were correlated with measured changes in appropriateness after EI by center.

Analysis and interrater reliability of pB-C2 using MRI and CT: data from the Park-Reeves Syringomyelia Research Consortium on behalf of the Pediatric Craniocervical Society.

OBJECTIVE The distance to the ventral dura, perpendicular to the basion to C2 line (pB-C2), is commonly employed as a measure describing the anatomy of the craniovertebral junction. However, both the reliability among observers and the clinical utility of this measurement in the context of Chiari malformation Type I (CM-I) have been incompletely determined. METHODS Data were reviewed from the first 600 patients enrolled in the Park-Reeves Syringomyelia Research Consortium with CM-I and syringomyelia.

Pediatric Appropriate Use Criteria Implementation Project: A Multicenter Outpatient Echocardiography Quality Initiative.

Background: Recently published appropriate use criteria (AUC) for initial pediatric outpatient transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) have not yet been evaluated for clinical applicability.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the appropriateness of TTE as currently performed in pediatric cardiology clinics, diagnostic yield of TTE for various AUC indications, and any gaps in the AUC document.

Methods: Data were prospectively collected from patients undergoing initial outpatient TTE in 6 centers.