Utility of Brain Injury Biomarkers in Children With Congenital Heart Disease Undergoing Cardiac Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects roughly 40,000 children annually. Despite advancements, children undergoing surgery for CHD are at an increased risk for adverse neurological outcomes. At present, there is no gold standard for the diagnosis of cerebral injury during the perioperative period. OBJECTIVE: To determine the utility of brain injury biomarkers in children undergoing cardiac surgery. METHODS: We searched PUBMED, EMBASE, LILACS, EBSCO, ClinicalTrials.gov, Cochrane Databases, and OVID interface to search MEDLINE through July 2021 and assessed the literature following the snowball method. The search terms used were "congenital heart disease," "cardiopulmonary bypass," "biomarkers," "diagnosis," "prognosis," and "children." No language or publication date restrictions were used. Papers studying inflammatory and imaging biomarkers were excluded. The risk of bias, strengths, and limitations of the study were reported. Study was registered in PROSPERO ID: CRD42021258385. RESULTS: A total of 1449 articles were retrieved, and 27 were included. Eight neurological biomarkers were examined. Outcomes assessed included prognosis of poor neurological outcome, mortality, readmission, and diagnosis of brain injury. Results from these studies support that significant perioperative elevations in brain injury biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid and serum, including S100B, GFAP, NSE, and activin A, may be diagnostic of real-time brain injury and serve as an independent predictor of adverse neurological outcomes in patients with CHD undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass. CONCLUSIONS: There are limited homogeneous data in the field, limiting the generalizability and comparability of the results. Further large-scale longitudinal studies addressing neurological biomarkers in children undergoing CHD corrective surgery are required to support the routine use of neuronal biomarkers in this population.

Decellularized Allografts for Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Reconstruction in Children.

OBJECTIVE: Determine the midterm outcomes of decellularized allografts for right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) reconstruction in children less than 12 years of age. METHODS: The study included all consecutive patients submitted to RVOT reconstruction with decellularized allografts between June 2006 and June 2016. Besides clinical and echocardiographic control, 20 patients with more than five years of follow-up were evaluated with computed tomography (CT) scans to determine allograft diameters and calcium scores. Structural valve deterioration was defined as any peak gradient above 40 mm Hg and/or insufficiency of moderate or severe degree. Conduit failure was defined as the need for allograft reintervention. RESULTS: There were 59 patients with a median age of six years (range = 0.01-12 years). The most common operation was the Ross procedure (34%). Mean clinical follow-up was 5.4 (2.8) years and was 94% complete. At eight years, only two patients needed a reintervention, with a 90.9% freedom from this event. Structural valve deterioration occurred in 13 patients, 5 due to stenosis and 8 due to insufficiency, with a freedom from structural valve deterioration due to any cause of 64.9% at eight years. Late CT scans demonstrated the absence or minimal calcification of the conduits. CONCLUSIONS: Decellularized allografts for RVOT reconstruction in children were associated with a low incidence of structural valve deterioration and conduit failure. Although these results still need to be confirmed in larger series and with longer follow-up, our data suggest favorable outcomes, at least in the first decade after the operation.

Erosäo esternal por aneurisma da aorta. Qual o melhor acesso? / Sternum erosion provoked by aortic aneurysm. Which is the better approach?

É descrito o caso de um paciente que apresentava erosäo esternal ocasionada por aneurisma da aorta ascendente e hemi-arco aórtico proximal. A via de acesso foi toracotomia bilateral uma vez que a erosäo era na parte alta do esterno, empregando-se hipotermia profunda e parada circulatória total. Foi interposto enxerto de pericárdio bovino para correçäo da aorta ascendente e hemi-arco aórtico proximal e outro enxerto entre o tronco braquicefálico e a parede lateral do enxerto de pericárdio bovino. A artéria descendente anterior foi revascularizada por haver oclusäo do óstio da artéria coronária esquerda. Após 3 anos da operaçäo o paciente está assintomático