Cardiology in the young
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Cardiology in the young · Jun 2021
Self-limited myocarditis presenting with chest pain and ST segment elevation in adolescents after vaccination with the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine.
Two adolescent males presented within 3 days after the first and second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine with chest pain. Elevated troponin levels, ST segment elevation, and enhancement of the myocardium in cardiac MRI suggested myocarditis. Left ventricular function remained normal, symptoms resolved, and patients were discharged in 4 days. BNT162b2 vaccine may be associated with self-limited myocarditis in youth.
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Cardiology in the young · Apr 2021
Standing on the shoulders of Giants: a citation analysis of the paediatric congenital heart disease literature.
The citation history of a published article reflects its impact on the literature over time. We conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to identify the most cited papers on CHD in children. ⋯ Citation analysis provides a historical perspective on scientific progress by assessing the impact of individual articles. Our study highlights the dominant position of US-based researchers and journals in this field. Most of the highly cited articles remain case series, with few randomised controlled trials in CHD appearing in recent years.
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Cardiology in the young · Dec 2020
Staphylococcus aureus adheres avidly to decellularised cardiac homograft tissue in vitro in the fibrinogen-dependent manner.
Infective endocarditis remains a severe complication associated with a high morbidity and mortality in patients after heart valve replacement. Exploration of the pathogenesis is of high demand and we, therefore, present a competent model that allows studying bacterial adherence and the role of plasma fibrinogen in this process using a new in-house designed low-volume flow chamber. Three cardiac graft tissues used for pulmonary valve replacement have been tested under shear conditions to investigate the impact of surface composition on the adhesion events. ⋯ The two studied homograft tissues showed different levels of bacterial attachment, which might be postulated by the involvement of fibrinogen in the adhesion mechanism(s) shown previously for bovine tissues.
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Cardiology in the young · Nov 2020
Maintaining paediatric cardiac services during the COVID-19 pandemic in a developing country in sub-Saharan Africa: guidelines for a "scale up" in the face of a global "scale down".
The COVID-19 pandemic is currently ravaging the globe and the African continent is not left out. While the direct effects of the pandemic in regard to morbidity and mortality appear to be more significant in the developed world, the indirect harmful effects on already insufficient healthcare infrastructure on the African continent would in the long term be more detrimental to the populace. Women and children form a significant vulnerable population in underserved areas such as the sub-Saharan region, and expectedly will experience the disadvantages of limited healthcare coverage which is a major fall out of the pandemic. ⋯ Restrictions on international travel for patients out of the continent to seek medical care and for international experts into the continent for regular mission programmes leave few options for children with cardiac defects to get the much-needed care. There is a need for a region-adapted guideline to scale-up services to cater for more children with congenital heart disease (CHD) while providing a safe environment for healthcare workers, patients, and their caregivers. This article outlines measures adapted to maintain paediatric cardiac care in a sub-Saharan tertiary centre in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic and will serve as a guide for other institutions in the region who will inadvertently need to provide these services as the demand increases.