Determining the Optimal Treatment for Idiopathic Clubfoot: A Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

BACKGROUND: Clubfoot, or congenital talipes equinovarus deformity, is a common anomaly affecting the foot in infants. However, clinical equipoise remains between different interventions, especially those based on the Ponseti method. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical outcomes of the various interventions for treating idiopathic clubfoot. METHODS: Searches of the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and CINAHL were conducted. Randomized controlled trials comparing different interventions, including the Ponseti method, accelerated Ponseti method, Ponseti method with botulinum toxin type A (Botox) injection, Ponseti method with early tibialis anterior tendon transfer (TATT), Kite method, and surgical treatment, were included. Network meta-analyses (NMAs) were conducted according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) reporting guidelines. The primary outcomes were the change in total Pirani score and maximal ankle dorsiflexion. Secondary outcomes were the number of casts, time in casts, and rates of tenotomy, total complications, relapse, adverse events, and additional required major surgery. RESULTS: Eleven randomized controlled trials involving 740 feet were included. According to the SUCRA (surface under the cumulative ranking curve)-based relative ranking, the Ponseti method was associated with the best outcomes in terms of Pirani score changes, maximal ankle dorsiflexion, number of casts, adverse events, and total complications, whereas the accelerated Ponseti method was associated with the best outcomes in terms of time in casts and tenotomy rate. Early TATT ranked best in terms of relapse rate. The Ponseti method with Botox injection was associated with the best outcomes in terms of the need for additional major surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The NMAs suggest that the Ponseti method is the optimal treatment overall, despite potential drawbacks such as longer time in casts and higher rates of tenotomy, relapse, and the need for additional surgery compared with other modified approaches. Therefore, clinicians should consider how treatments can be tailored individually. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level I . See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Surgical ligation, not transcatheter closure, associated with a higher severity of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in extremely preterm infant intervened for patent ductus arteriosus.

OBJECTIVE: Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a common complication among premature infants, which may be responsible for prematurity-related complications such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). It is unclear whether different interventional methods contribute to the severity of BPD, given the original National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) 2001 definition. To date, surgical ligation and the transcatheter approach have been equally successful in premature infants with hemodynamically significant PDA after medical treatment failure. Immediate improvement in the respiratory condition has been reported after transcatheter closure. However, the short-term pulmonary outcome has not been clarified yet. METHODS: This retrospective study investigated infants born with a body weight <1000 g and who underwent either surgical ligation or transcatheter closure of PDA in a single tertiary institution. The infants were divided into groups according to the type of procedure (surgical ligation or transcatheter occlusion). The primary outcome was the severity of BPD at discharge or at a postmenstrual age of 36 weeks. The outcome was analyzed with logistic regression. RESULTS: Forty-four patients met the inclusion criteria, of whom 14 underwent transcatheter occlusion and 30 underwent surgical ligation. The overall birth body weights and gestational age ranges were not different. The univariate model revealed an association between the procedure type and BPD severity. After adjusting for confounders, the multivariate model confirmed associations between BPD severity and procedure type and severe respiratory distress syndrome requiring surfactant. CONCLUSION: Compared with the transcatheter approach, surgery for PDA in extremely preterm infants is associated with severe BPD at discharge. Further large-scale studies are needed to determine the exact mechanism.

Cardiovascular Intervention in Neonates Using an Umbilical Vein Approach.

Cardiovascular catheterization has been applied in infant treatment for several decades. To date, considerable research attention has been paid to cardiovascular catheterization in small neonates. However, peripheral vascular routes of catheterization are possible obstacles for interventionists. Umbilical vein catheterization has been reported as a route for neonates, although few attempts have been made to investigate this approach. This study aimed to retrospectively review cardiovascular intervention using the umbilical vein approach as applied to infants admitted to a tertiary center from 2017 to 2020. Details including the perinatal variables, indication diagnoses, and procedure devices were collected. The enrollment included a total of 16 cases representing 17 intervention events, with infants born at a gestation age of 22-39 weeks and body weight ranging from 478 to 3685 g at the time of the procedure. The postnatal age ranged from 1 to 27 days. The catheter sizes ranged from 4 to 11 Fr. Indications included being admitted for patent ductus arteriosus occlusion (n = 15), balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty (n = 3), balloon atrial septostomy (BAS) (n = 3), pulmonary valve (PV) perforation (n = 1), and two interventions for catheter placement for continuous venovenous hemofiltration. The success rate for cardiovascular catheterization was 88.2% (15/17). There were two patients for which cannulation failed due to ductus venosus closure: one intraabdominal hemorrhage complication during continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH), and one cardiac catheterization failure of PV perforation due to failure to insert the guiding catheter into the right ventricular outflow tract. Based on these findings, we conclude that cardiac catheterization and the placement of a large-sized catheter through an umbilical vein in a small infant represents a safe and time-saving method when catheterization is required.

Clinical Experience of Transcatheter Closure for Ventricular Septal Defects in Children Weighing under 15 kg.

BACKGROUND: Failure to thrive and poor weight gain are the main problems associated with ventricular septal defects complicated by heart failure in pediatric patients. Recent advances in transcatheter closure have enabled safe and effective interventions in these patients. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe our experience with transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defects in young children with low weight. METHODS: Pediatric patients weighing < 15 kg who underwent transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defects between January 2018 and December 2019 at our hospital were retrospectively enrolled. RESULTS: Twelve patients were enrolled: one with a muscular defect, two with outlet defects, and nine with perimembranous defects. Their median age was 24 (7-60) months, and their median weight before the procedure was 11.8 kg (4.7-14.9 kg; mean Z-score: -1.3). The median precordial echocardiographic defect diameter was 5.6 (2.0-9.3) mm. Successful transcatheter closure was achieved in 11 cases. The mean weight at 1-month follow-up after defect closure was 13.5 kg (6.2-19.8 kg; mean Z-score: -0.2). The mean length of hospitalization was 2.7 days. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the potential safety and therapeutic efficacy of transcatheter ventricular septal defect closure in infants with low weight. Considerable weight gain and heart failure symptom attenuation at 1 month after transcatheter closure were observed.

Decrease of Pneumococcal Community-Acquired Pneumonia Hospitalization and Associated Complications in Children after the Implementation of the 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV13) in Taiwan.

The impact of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) on overall community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and disease severity still needs thorough evaluation. In this study, we retrieve both pneumococcal CAP (P-CAP) and unspecific CAP (U-CAP) inpatient data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database (NHID) between 2005 and 2016. The interrupted time-series (ITS) analysis was performed to compare the incidence trend before and after the implementation of PCV13. After PCV13 implementation, there is a significant decreasing trend of P-CAP hospitalization, especially in children <1 year, 2-5 years, adults aged 19-65 years, 66 years, or older (all p value < 0.05). This corresponds to a 59% reduction in children <1 year, 47% in children aged 2-5 years, 39% in adult aged 19-65 years, and 41% in elderly aged 66 years or older. The intensive care rate (6.8% to 3.9%), severe pneumonia cases (21.7 to 14.5 episodes per 100,000 children-years), and the need for invasive procedures (4.3% to 2.0%) decreased in children aged 2-5 years (p value < 0.0001) with P-CAP. This PCV13 implementation program in Taiwan not only reduced the incidence of P-CAP, but also attenuated disease severity, especially in children aged 2-5 years.

Respiratory Trajectory after Invasive Interventions for Patent Ductus Arteriosus of Preterm Infants.

Invasive interventions have been conducted in preterm infants with significant patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) when medical treatment has failed, and methods of invasive intervention have been reported. Surgical ligation via lateral thoracotomy has been a well-established procedure for decades. Recently, transcatheter occlusion has been safely and feasibly applied to the premature population. However, little research has been conducted on the benefits of transcatheter occlusion in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants compared to surgical ligation. This study compared transcatheter and surgical techniques in VLBW infants in terms of short-term respiratory outcomes. The medical records of 401 VLBW infants admitted to a tertiary hospital between September 2014 and January 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients who were diagnosed with a congenital anomaly, a chromosomal anomaly, or congenital heart disease, except for an inter-atrial shunt, were excluded. The perinatal conditions, neonatal morbidities, periprocedural vital signs, and respiratory support trajectories were compared between the transcatheter-treated and surgically ligated group. A total of 31 eligible VLBW infants received invasive intervention: 14 were treated with transcatheter occlusion (Group A), and 17 infants were treated with surgical ligation (Group B). Respiratory outcomes were not statistically significant between the two groups, despite Group A showing a trend toward early improvement in post-intervention respiratory trajectory. In this small case study, a different trend in post-intervention respiratory trajectories was observed. Future research with larger case numbers should be conducted to address our preliminary observations in more detail.

Diastolic and systolic right ventricular diameters for predicting pulmonary hypertension in children with congenital heart disease.

Prospective electrocardiography (ECG)-gated cardiac computed tomography angiography (CTA) is widely used for pediatric patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) due to the lower radiation dose compared with the ECG-gated technique. However, functional parameters acquired using ECG-gated cardiac CT to predict pulmonary hypertension (PH) in children with CHD have not yet been reported. This study aimed to investigate the potential of diastolic and systolic right ventricular diameters (RVD) on prospective ECG-gated cardiac CTA to predict PH in children with CHD. A total of 44 children with CHD were divided into two groups: CHD with PH (n = 22) and CHD without PH (n = 22). The association between ECG-gated CTA parameters and PH was evaluated by logistic regression. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to find the best cut-off point for the parameters measured by Youden's index. Patients with higher RVD-BSA [aOR (95% CI) diastolic: 2.76 (1.23-6.23); systolic: 6.15 (1.72-22.06)] had higher risk of PH after adjusting for age and patent ductus arteriosus. The area under the curve (AUC) of D-RVD-BSA was 0.907 and the AUC of S-RVD-BSA was 0.917. Logistic regression showed that patients with D-RVD-BSA over 6.86 or S-RVD-BSA over 5.87 had significantly higher risk of PH after adjustments (aOR = 23.52, 95% CI = 2.89-191.03; aOR = 31.14, 95% CI = 2.75-352.85). In conclusion, in children with CHD, measurements of diastolic or systolic BSA-modified RVDs on prospective ECG-gated CTA are non-invasive markers of PH. BSA-modified D-RVD of 6.86 or BSA-modified S-RVD of 5.87 may be used to identify PH in children with CHD.

Timing of Endotracheal Intubation in Patients with Fulminant Enterovirus 71 Infection.

Background and objective: Enterovirus 71 (EV 71) infections may result in the rapid progression of cardiopulmonary failure. Early endotracheal intubation is considered to be of primary importance. However, the appropriate timing for this is still not known. The aim of this study is to investigate the timing of intubation of children with fulminant EV71 infection. Material and Methods: From March 1998 to May 2012, patients with severe EV71 infection who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit of the National Cheng Kung University Hospital were enrolled in this study. Medical records were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were classified into three groups in accordance with the outcome of intubation. We used rhombencephalitis grading to describe the neurological presentation of these patients. The study was approved by the institutional review board. Results: There were a total of 105 patients enrolled. Of these, 77 patients were in Grade I, and only three of them needed intubation, who were, however, soon extubated within 24 h. There were 10 patients in Grade II; nine of them needed intubation. In total, 18 patients belonged to Grade III, and all of them need to be intubated. We then compared the outcome of intubation of grades II and III. There was only one patient out of the nine patients in grade II who experienced failed extubation due to the progression of the disease. Among grade III patients, only four patients were successfully extubated. We also listed clinical parameters to determine which one could be a sign that indicated intubation. Comparing the favorable outcomes, cranial nerve involvement was a good indicator for the timing of intubation. Conclusions: This study showed that early intubation in Grade II provides favorable outcomes and improves morbidity and mortality. We also found that if cranial nerve involvement was present, then early intubation is indicated.

Transcatheter Closure of Patent Ductus Arteriosus in Premature Infants With Very Low Birth Weight.

Background: The aim of this study was to describe our experience with transcatheter device closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in symptomatic low-birth-weight premature infants. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of infants born with a birth body weight of < 2,000 g and admitted to National Cheng Kung University Hospital from September 2014 to December 2019. Basic demographic and clinical information as well as echocardiographic and angiographic data were recorded. Results: Twenty-five premature infants (11 boys and 14 girls) born at gestational ages ranging between 22 and 35 weeks (mean, 25 weeks) were identified. The mean age at procedure was 34.5 ± 5.5 days, and the mean weight was 1,209 ± 94 g (range, 478-1,980 g). The mean diameter of the PDA was 3.4 ± 0.2 mm (range, 2.0-5.4 mm). The following devices were used in this study: Amplatzer Ductal Occluder II additional size (n = 20), Amplatzer Vascular Plug I (n = 1), and Amplatzer Vascular Plug II (n = 4). Complete closure was achieved in all patients. The mean follow-up period was 30.1 ± 17.3 months (range, 6-68 months). In total, 3 patients had left pulmonary artery (LPA) stenosis and 1 patient had coarctation of the aorta during the follow-up period. Younger procedure age and smaller procedure body weight were significantly associated with these obstructions. Conclusions: Performing transcatheter PDA closure in symptomatic premature infants weighing more than 478 g is feasible using currently available devices; moreover, the procedure serves as an alternative to surgery.

Single origin of right and left pulmonary arteries from ascending aorta with atretic main pulmonary artery from right ventricle and left pulmonary sling.

Either left pulmonary sling or single origin of right and left pulmonary arteries (only three cases reported previously) are rare congenital heart anomalies and concomitantly occurred had not been reported. The image presentation is similar to type A1 truncus arteriosus but preserved pulmonary valve and main pulmonary artery development.

Interventional Transcatheter Closure Ameliorates the Leukocyte Rho Kinase Activities among Patients with Patent Ductus Arteriosus.

BACKGROUND: Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) causes increased pulmonary blood flow, which can lead to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase (ROCK) may play an important pathophysiological role in PAH. We hypothesized that the increased pulmonary artery (PA) flow from PDA could activate ROCK. METHODS: Patients who received a PDA transcatheter closure in our hospital were consecutively enrolled in this study. Basic demographics and clinical hemodynamic data of the study participants were recorded. Then, ROCK activity was measured before and after the PDA occlusion procedure. ROCK activity was defined as the phosphorylation ratio of myosin-binding subunit by Western blot measurement. We also sub-divided patients into the coil group and occluder group based on the occlusion device used in each patient's procedure. RESULTS: From January 2009 to December 2011, 25 patients with a median age of 2.3 years, ranging from 10 months to 72 years were enrolled. The mean PDA size was 0.31 ± 0.14 cm, the mean Qp/Qs shunt was 1.54 ± 0.41, and the mean systolic pulmonary artery pressure was 26.9 ± 10.3 mmHg. There were 10 patients (one boy and nine girls) in the coil group and 15 patients (four boys and eleven girls) in the occluder group. Following the closure of the PDA, ROCK activity significantly decreased (1.78 ± 2.25 vs. 0.77 ± 0.69, p < 0.01). There was a strong correlation between the leukocyte ROCK activity with the systolic PA pressure (y = 5.4608x + 22.54, R2 = 0.5539, p < 0.05), but not the Qp/Qs value. Both subgroups showed significant changes of ROCK activity after the procedure. Interestingly, when comparing the coil group with the occluder group, the decrease in ROCK activity was more apparent in the occluder group. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study indicated that ROCK activity is higher in patients with PDA and correlates with PA pressure. The decrease in ROCK activity following the device closure suggests that ROCK may be an important biomarker for PDA patency. KEY WORDS: Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA); Pulmonary arterial pressure; Rho kinase; Transcatheter closure.

Overcoming disparities in diabetes care: eight years' experience changing the diabetes care system in Changhua, Taiwan.

AIMS: To enhance the universal coverage of quality diabetes care and overcome disparities in care among different care-provider levels by changing the diabetes care system in Changhua, Taiwan. METHODS: The Changhua Diabetes Shared Care program's second stage commenced in 2004. Two levels of diabetes care were proposed to facilitate physician participation via advocating the more attainable goals of diabetes care. The empowerment processes were differentiated into hospital-level and primary-care-clinic-level. The community multidisciplinary care teams took the scale of the practices into consideration, and several measures were applied to ameliorate the shared care network. The implementation support team from the health authority initiated in-person, one-on-one contacts with physicians to tailor collaboration activities to the individual primary care settings. The program's performance (2004-2012) was evaluated according to the RE-AIM model's five dimensions. RESULTS: There was substantial improvement in diabetes care quality across all dimensions and the proportion of attaining all goals significantly grew. CONCLUSIONS: The program achieved its primary goal of enhancing the universal coverage of quality diabetes care and overcoming disparities among different levels of care providers.