Vitaliy Suvorov^1,2,*, Olga Loboda², Maria Balakina¹, Igor Kulczycki²

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.18, No.5, pp. 491-505, 2023, DOI:10.32604/chd.2023.030583 - 10 November 2023

Abstract Background: Three-dimensional printing technology may become a key factor in transforming clinical practice and in significant improvement of treatment outcomes. The introduction of this technique into pediatric cardiac surgery will allow us to study features of the anatomy and spatial relations of a defect and to simulate the optimal surgical repair on a printed model in every individual case. Methods: We performed the prospective cohort study which included 29 children with congenital heart defects. The hearts and the great vessels were modeled and printed out. Measurements of the same cardiac areas were taken in the… More > Graphic Abstract

Onur Doyurgan^1,*, Osman Akdeniz², Fatih Özdemir¹, Yiğit Kılıç¹, Bedri Aldudak³

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.17, No.3, pp. 313-323, 2022, DOI:10.32604/chd.2022.018479 - 03 May 2022

Abstract Background: Vascular access used for pediatric cardiac catheterization is one of the most important factors that affects the success of the procedure. We aimed to compare the effect, success, and complications of cardiac catheterizations performed by carotid cut-down or femoral puncture in newborns or young infants. Methods: We included who underwent catheterization in our department between 28 January 2017 and 15 April 2021. These patients underwent balloon aortic valvuloplasty, balloon coarctation angioplasty, ductal stenting, diagnostic procedures for aortic arch pathologies, and modified Blalock-Taussig in-shunt intervention. Patients were divided into two groups: femoral puncture (group = 1)… More >

Gabriele Egidy Assenza¹, Biagio Castaldi^2,*, Serena Flocco³, Giovanni Battista Luciani⁴, Giovanni Meliota⁵, Gabriele Rinelli⁶, Ugo Vairo⁵, Silvia Favilli⁷, Board of the Italian Society of Pediatric Cardiology

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.16, No.5, pp. 427-431, 2021, DOI:10.32604/CHD.2021.016713 - 03 June 2021

Abstract COVID-19 pandemic continues to strike across the world with increasing number of infected patients, severe morbidity and mortality, social life and economy disruption. Universal access to vaccine prophylaxis will be pivotal in controlling this infection and providing individual level protection. However, mismatch between vaccine request and vaccine availability, as well as constraints in logistics of vaccine campaign is creating a transition phase of progressive but still incomplete inclusion of group of individuals in the vaccination process. Selected patients living with chronic and multisystemic disease may present increased propensity of adverse outcome, should Sars-Cov-2 infection develop. More >

Amy Sanyahumbi¹, Andrea Beaton², Danielle Guffey³, Mina C. Hosseinipour⁴, Melissa Karlsten¹, Charles G. Minard³, Daniel J. Penny¹, Craig A. Sable⁵, Peter N. Kazembe⁶

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.14, No.4, pp. 614-618, 2019, DOI:10.1111/chd.12756

Abstract Background: In asymptomatic children, screening echocardiography has been used to attempt to diagnose rheumatic heart disease (RHD) at an early stage (latent RHD). World Heart Federation guidelines have standardized categorization of “definite,” “borderline,” or no RHD by echo findings. The progression of RHD diagnosed through echo screening is not known. In 2014, we screened 1450 schoolchildren in Malawi.
Objective: Our objective was to evaluate 2‐year RHD evolution among those diag‐ nosed through screening.
Methods: Two‐year follow‐up echocardiograms of those diagnosed with latent RHD were read by a primary, secondary, then third reader if there was disagreement. Progression or… More >

Amanda Hoerst¹, Adnan Bakar², Steven C. Cassidy³, Martha Clabby⁴, Erica Del Grippo⁵, Margaret Graupe¹, Ashraf S. Harahsheh⁶, Anthony M. Hlavacek⁷, Stephen A. Hart³, Alaina K. Kipps⁸, Nicolas L. Madsen¹, Dora D. O’Neil⁹, Sonali S. Patel¹⁰, Courtney M. Strohacker¹¹, Ronn E. Tanel¹²

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.14, No.3, pp. 419-426, 2019, DOI:10.1111/chd.12739

Abstract Background: The Pediatric Acute Care Cardiology Collaborative (PAC3) was estab‐ lished in 2014 to improve the quality, value, and experience of hospital‐based cardiac acute care outside of the intensive care unit. An initial PAC3 project was a compre‐ hensive survey to understand unit structure, practices, and resource utilization across the collaborative. This report aims to describe the previously unknown degree of practice variation across member institutions.
Methods: A 126‐stem question survey was developed with a total of 412 possible response fields across nine domains including demographics, staffing, available re‐ sources and therapies, and standard care practices. Five… More >

Soham Dasgupta¹, Ishaan Dave², Courtney E. McCracken², Larry Mohl³, Ritu Sachdeva¹, William Border¹

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.14, No.3, pp. 350-355, 2019, DOI:10.1111/chd.12723

Abstract Background: Physicians are exposed to workplace factors that may result in acute or chronic stress resulting in burnout. This may impact the productivity and result in suboptimal patient care practices.
Methods: We surveyed pediatric cardiology attending physicians at our institution to assess their perception of burnout and work-life balance using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Areas of Work-Life Survey.
Results: Forty-five out of the 50 pediatric cardiology attendings responded to the survey. They were divided into 4 groups: Interventional/Electrophysiology [n = 3], Cardiac Intensive Care/Inpatient [n = 8], Non-Invasive Imaging [n = 6], and Outpatient [n =… More >

Shae Anderson^1,2, Courtney E. McCracken², Ritu Sachdeva^1,2

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.13, No.6, pp. 1050-1057, 2018, DOI:10.1111/chd.12679

Abstract Objective: The educational intervention (EI) through the Pediatric Appropriate Use of Echocardiography (PAUSE) multicenter study resulted in improved appropriate‐ ness of transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) orders at our center. The current study evaluated if this pattern persisted after cessation of EI and the potential physician characteristics influencing appropriateness.
Design: Outpatients (≤18 years old) seen for initial evaluation during the EI (July to October, 2015) and 6‐month post‐EI (May to August, 2016) phases were included. Comparison was made between TTE rates and appropriateness ratings during EI and post‐EI phase. Association between TTE rate and appropriateness with physician characteristics (age,… More >

Shelby C. White¹, Jennifer Sedler², Trahern W. Jones³, Michael Seckeler¹

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.13, No.6, pp. 1045-1049, 2018, DOI:10.1111/chd.12673

Abstract Objective: Applications of three‐dimensional (3D) printed models in medicine in‐ clude preprocedure planning, patient education, and clinical training. Reproducing complex anatomy as a 3D printed model can be useful for understanding congenital heart defects (CHD). We hypothesized that using 3D printed models during didactic sessions with resident physicians will improve trainees’ understanding of CHD.
Design and intervention: We performed a prospective, randomized educational in‐ tervention for teaching pediatric and pediatric/emergency medicine residents about simple (ventricular septal defect [VSD]) and moderately complex (tetralogy of Fallot [ToF]) CHD. Residents were divided into two groups: intervention and control. Each group… More >

Joseph J. Knadler¹, Daniel J. Penny¹, Tyler H. Harris², Gary D. Webb³, Antonio G. Cabrera^1,4, William B. Kyle¹

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.13, No.5, pp. 794-798, 2018, DOI:10.1111/chd.12669

Abstract Objective: The growing body of medical literature in pediatric cardiology has made it increasingly difficult for individual providers to stay abreast of the most current, meaningful articles to help guide practice. Crowdsourcing represents a collaborative process of obtaining information from a large group of individuals, typically from an online or web‐based community, and could serve a potential mechanism to pool indi‐ vidual efforts to combat this issue. This study aimed to utilize crowdsourcing as a novel way to generate a list of the most relevant, current publications in congenital heart disease, utilizing input from an international… More >

Michelle Keir¹, Barbara Bailey¹, Angela Lee¹, Adrienne H. Kovacs^1,2, S. Lucy Roche^1,3

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.13, No.5, pp. 740-747, 2018, DOI:10.1111/chd.12647

Abstract Background: With access to surgical care, >90% of today’s infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) will reach adulthood. During childhood, survivors accrue a wealth of health care experience and develop strategies for navigating life with a chronic disease.
Methods: Seeking to learn from this individualized process, we invited adults with complex CHD to participate in narrative analysis—an established qualitative research method for studying how individuals derive meaning from their personal stories. Audio recordings of 2‐4 hour free‐form interviews were transcribed and iteratively analyzed to identify common themes and detect similarities or differences in language, viewpoint and interpretation.… More >