Predictive Factors for Determining the Clinical Severity of Pediatric Scorpion Envenomation Cases in Southeastern Turkey

Objective.-The aim of this study was to define the epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory manifestations of scorpion envenomation and to identify factors that are predictive of severe cases

Comparison of Oral and Intravenous Ibuprofen for Medical Closure of Patent Ductus Arteriosus: Which One Is Better?

WOS: 000311611000010PubMed ID: 22613269Objective. Intravenous ibuprofen is an expensive drug that is being used currently for treating and preventing patent ductus arteriosus. Although oral ibuprofen is much cheaper, there is limited data published about its safety and efficacy. The aim of this study was to compare two forms of ibuprofen in terms of safety and efficacy in closure of patent ductus arteriosus. Design. This is a single-center retrospective study. Setting. Data were collected from patients' files of preterm infants who were hospitalized at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Dr. Behcet Uz Children's Hospital between April 2009 and June 2010. Patients. Six hundred sixty infants were evaluated by echocardiography between 24 and 48 postnatal hours. Clinically and hemodynamically significant ductus arteriosus was defined in 66 infants with gestational age less than 32 weeks and birth weight less than 1500 g. Interventions. Oral or intravenous ibuprofen (loading dose: 10 mg/kg on day 1, followed by maintenance dose: 5 mg/kg on days 2 and 3) was administered. Outcome Measures. Treatment success was defined as a completely closed duct without reopening on follow-up. Drug-associated renal, gastrointestinal, cerebral, hematological, and metabolic side effects were monitored and compared between treatment groups. Results. Ductal closure rates were 100% and 97.6%, respectively, in the oral and intravenous groups. Hypernatremia was the remarkable side effect in the intravenous group, whereas bronchopulmonary dysplasia and septicemia were prominent in the oral group. No statistically significant difference could be demonstrated between the groups in terms of mortality rates. Conclusion. Oral ibuprofen therapy is as efficacious as intravenous ibuprofen with some concerns about increased sepsis and bronchopulmonary dysplasia incidence. However, comprehensive and large-scale pharmacokinetic studies are required in order to prove this efficacy. On the other hand, intravenous ibuprofen still remains to be the drug of choice for patent ductus arteriosus but only with meticulous control of serum sodium levels in smaller infants

Evaluation of myocardial function in pediatric patients with transposition of great arteries after arterial switch operation

Objective: An arterial switch operation converts the left ventricle (LV) into the systemic ventricle, replacing the right ventricle (RV), which is the systemic ventricle during the prenatal period. The procedure is performed in patients with arterial transposition and those in whom a coronary reimplantation procedure is performed. Therefore, the adaptation of LV and RV to the arterial switch operations is an interesting issue. This study aimed to evaluate systolic and diastolic functions in the LV and RV myocardium using echocardiography in pediatric patients with transposed great arteries after an arterial switch operation

Infracardiac total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage with unusual presentation

WOS: 000280075700018PubMed ID: 20589476Total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage (TAPVD) is a rare entity which forms approximately 0.4 to 2% of all congenital heart disease. The infracardiac type usually involve obstructions on pulmonary venous connections and comprising a quarter of all TAPVD cases. The clinical findings in patients with obstructed infracardiac TAPVD could mimic respiratuary distress of several different etiologies during first hours of life. In this article, we present a case of a neonate with infracardiac type of TAPVD presented with only distinct subcutaneous veins of abdominal and thoracic wall

Mid-term results of Solysafe (R) septal occluder for percutaneous closure of secundum atrial septal defects

Background: In this article, we report mid-term follow-up results of the Solysafe (R) septal occluder for percutaneous closure of secundum atrial septal defects

Improvement in cardiac structure and functions early after transcatheter closure of secundum atrial septal defect in children and adolescents

We sought to assess the effects of transcatheter closure of atrial septal defect (ASD) on right and left ventricular form and functions, as well as atrial volumes and pulmonary venous flows. We enrolled 25 patients (mean age: 9.02) prospectively who underwent successful transcatheter closure of secundum ASD. We performed transthoracic echocardiography, including two-dimensional, pulsed wave Doppler, M-mode echocardiography, and tissue Doppler imaging before the procedure and 1 day, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months after the procedure. Serum brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels were measured prior to the procedure, and 1 day, 1 month, and 3 months thereafter. Mitral inflow early diastolic wave increased significantly, while isovolumetric relaxation time and deceleration time did not change during the follow-up. The E/E'was also increased significantly during follow-up. After the closure, right ventricular size and right atrial volume reduced, while left ventricular size increased significantly. There was a statistically significant improvement in left and right ventricular Tei indices. Pulmonary vein systolic velocity and the ratio of systolic to diastolic wave decreased, while atrial reversal wave (ARW) velocity increased immediately after the procedure. Although the concentration of BNP was increased on the first day after the procedure, its levels reduced and had reached the pre-procedure values at 1 month of follow-up. In the study, a significant improvement in the right and left ventricular functions was detected after transcatheter closure of secundum ASD in the short-term follow-up. In addition, we found a significant reduction in right heart sizes with corresponding global functional improvement in the right ventricle after the procedure

Predictors of Chronic Valvular Disease in Patients With Rheumatic Carditis

This study investigated the predictors of chronic valvular disease in children with rheumatic carditis. The short- to mid-term follow-up records of 88 patients (mean age, 10.68 +/- A 2.5 years) with chronic rheumatic heart disease were reviewed. The mean follow-up period was 2.95 +/- A 1.4 years. Valvular involvement completely improved for 24 of the patients (27%) during the follow-up period. The multivariate logistic regression analysis found initial left ventricular dilation to be a significant independent risk factor associated with the persistence of either valvular involvement or mitral regurgitation. Furthermore, persistence of mitral regurgitation was found to be strongly correlated with cardiac murmur at admission. No significant correlation was detected between age, gender, severity of valvular involvements at initial evaluation, and chronic valvular disease. The majority of patients with rheumatic carditis had normal left ventricular systolic function. However, a significant proportion of patients had left ventricular dilation, reported in the medical literature to be associated with the severity of valve involvement. This study found no relation between initial severity of valve involvements and chronic valvular disease. For this reason, increased left ventricular end-diastolic diameter may be secondary to myocardial involvement independent of valvular regurgitation. The findings in this study also suggest that subclinic carditis had a better outcome than clinically evident carditis

The association between brain natriuretic peptide and tissue Doppler parameters in children with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

In this study, we investigated the association between brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels and tissue Doppler imaging measurements and also screening for deadly mutations in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). We enrolled 20 patients diagnosed with HCM (age: 10.7 +/- 5 years (1-17), 85% male, weight: 42.25 +/- 23.10 kg, height: 141.80 +/- 32.45 cm) and 20 age, gender and body weight-matched control subjects. We performed electrocardiography, transthoracic echocardiography, and tissue Doppler echocardiography in each group, as well as genetic tests (for Arg403Gln, Arg453Cys, Arg719Trp and Arg719Gln mutations in MYH7 Exons 13, 14, 19) and BNP in the patients. The patients were divided into two groups according to the presence (Group 1) or absence (Group 2) of left ventricular (LV) outflow tract obstruction. QTc dispersion and the LV ejection fraction and left atrial (LA) volume index were increased in Group 1. The LA volume index and the mitral and septal E/Ea ratio and septum Z-score were increased while the mitral lateral annulus and septal annulus Ea wave velocities and the mitral and tricuspid E/A ratio were decreased in patients with high levels of BNP compared to those with normal BNP levels. There were no mutations that are associated with increased risk of sudden death found in patients included in this study. In the light of our data, we conclude that such parameters BNP levels above the 98 pg/mL, septal thickness Z-score >6, and higher mitral and septal E/Ea ratios can be used for management of patients with HCM according to life-threatening conditions

Kawasaki disease in Turkish children: a single center experience with emphasis on intravenous immunoglobulin resistance and giant coronary aneurysms

Prompt diagnosis and the administration of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has reduced the incidence of coronary artery abnormalities (CAA) in Kawasaki Disease (KD). The resistance to treatment and development of the coronary sequelae remain the most important problems in KD. We aimed to determine the predicting factors of nonresponse to initial IVIG therapy and to analyze the cases who had giant coronary aneurysms. A total of 120 KD cases, including 61 children fulfilling the criteria for KD and 59 with incomplete KD were enrolled into this study. Demographic, laboratory, clinical, echocardiographic characteristics, and treatment regimens were reviewed, retrospectively. The median age of the patients was 33.5 months (range: 3-168 months). Coronary artery aneurysms were detected in 35 patients (29%) at the time of diagnosis. Twenty-eight patients had coronary aneurysms small or medium in size, one had a large, and seven had giant coronary aneurysms. CAA persisted in 8 cases in the follow-up, all of which were large or giant aneurysms. A ten month-old girl with a giant coronary aneurysm was referred to coronary bypass surgery in the subacute phase of follow-up, due to myocardial ischemia. Eighteen patients were unresponsive to the initial IVIG therapy (%15), of whom 10 were diagnosed as cKD and 8 were iKD. Patients who did not respond to initial IVIG therapy, had higher white blood cell (WBC) count, higher C-reactive protein (CRP) and lower albumin levels than those who did (P<0.05). In univarite analysis; CRP, WBC and albumin were found to be significant predictors of nonresponse to initial IVIG therapy, while a stepwise multiple linear regression analysis showed that WBC count and albumin levels were significantly correlated with nonresponse to initial treatment with IVIG. Our study showed that WBC count and albumin levels might be used as predictors of nonresponse to the IVIG therapy in Turkish children with KD