Cardiology in the young
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Cardiology in the young · Jun 2010
Case ReportsLeeuwenhoek's disease: diaphragmatic flutter in a cardiac patient.
A 15-year-old girl gave a recent history of dyspnoea and "funny turns". She had congenital aortic stenosis, previous valvotomies, a mechanical valve replacement, permanent pacemaker, atrial tachyarrhythmias, impaired ventricular function, systemic hypotension, pulmonary hypertension, and anxiety. The diagnosis of diaphragmatic flutter was delayed due to all the differential diagnoses and rarity of the condition. It was confirmed by observation, respiratory band monitoring, volume-time spirogram and fluoroscopy during an attack.
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Cardiology in the young · Apr 2010
Biography Historical ArticleThe paediatric cardiology Hall of Fame: Maude Elizabeth Abbott.
Few paediatric cardiologists know of Maude Abbott. Yet before Helen Taussig, no one contributed more to founding the specialty than Maude Abbott. She achieved international fame as the early 20th century expert on cardiac malformations. We summarise here her life and contributions, indicating how she is more than justified in being inducted to the Hall of Fame.
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Cardiology in the young · Apr 2010
Do neonates, infants and young children need a higher dose of enoxaparin in the cardiac intensive care unit?
Thromboembolic events are a serious complication occurring in critically ill children admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit. Although enoxaparin is one of the current anticoagulants of choice, dosages in children are extrapolated from adult guidelines. Recent data suggest that this population may need a higher dose than what is currently recommended to achieve target anti-factor Xa levels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether children less than 2 years old admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit require a higher enoxaparin dose than that currently recommended to achieve target anti-factor Xa levels. ⋯ Young children, infants, and neonates admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit required a significantly higher enoxaparin dose than that currently recommended to achieve target anti-factor Xa levels.
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Cardiology in the young · Feb 2010
Multicenter StudyConsiderations for prenatal counselling of patients with cardiac rhabdomyomas based on their cardiac and neurologic outcomes.
Cardiac rhabdomyomas are benign cardiac tumours with few cardiac complications, but with a known association to tuberous sclerosis that affects the neurologic outcome of the patients. We have analysed the long-term cardiac and neurological outcomes of patients with cardiac rhabdomyomas in order to allow comprehensive prenatal counselling, basing our findings on the records of all patients seen prenatally and postnatally with an echocardiographic diagnosis of cardiac rhabdomyoma encountered from August, 1982, to September, 2007. We analysed factors such as the number and the location of the tumours to establish their association with a diagnosis of tuberous sclerosis, predicting the cardiac and neurologic outcomes for the patients. ⋯ The presence of multiple cardiac tumours suggested a higher risk of being affected by tuberous sclerosis. The tumours generally regress after birth, and cardiac-related problems are rare after the perinatal period. Tuberous sclerosis and the associated neurodevelopmental complications dominate the clinical picture, and should form an important aspect of the prenatal counselling of parents.