Word of caution: silent late device embolisation after perimembranous ventricular septal defect closure in a 6-Kg infant.

We report on a 6-month-old infant (6 Kg/ 64 cm) with perimembranous ventricular septal defect (absent sub-aortic rim, 10 mm left ventricular entry, and 4 and 6 mm right ventricular exists) and successful retrograde closure using an 8x6 mm KONAR-MF™ VSD occluder (Lifetech, China). Immediate and 48 hours post-procedure ultrasounds showed an accurately positioned device and two jets of mild-to-moderate residual shunts. At the 2-week follow-up, the device did not change position and the shunt was stable and intra-prosthetic. The scheduled 3-month follow-up was skipped for familial reasons. The patient came back without alarming symptoms for the regular 6-month follow-up, and the device was found embolised to the left pulmonary artery. The device was retrieved surgically, and the defect was patch-closed with excellent outcomes. There was a pseudoaneurysm involving the tricuspid valve chordae and the device was endothelialized partially on one edge suggesting that embolization occurred somewhere between 3 months and 6 months post-operative. Defects with compromised anatomies should be closed surgically to avoid suboptimal results, especially in small infants.

[Communication interventriculaire compliquant un infarctus de myocarde antérieur : un cas de fermeture percutanée]. / Ventricular septal defect complicating anterior acute myocardial infarction : A Case of transcatheter closure.

INTRODUCTION: Post-infarction ventricular septal defect (PIVSD) is one of the most serious mechanical complications of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Over the last decade, percutaneous closure is increasingly undertaken, with results similar to cardiac surgery. We present a case of ST-elevated anterior AMI, complicated by apical PIVSD successfully treated with transcatheter closure. CASE REPORT: An 83-year-old man was hospitalized for chest pain occurred 18 hours before, during the night time. He was an active smoker. Clinical examination revealed normal heart sounds and pulmonary bibasilar crackles. ST-segment elevation with deep T waves inversion in anterior leads were detected on the electrocardiogram. A mildly-reduced ejection fraction (40%) was found by transthoracic echocardiogram. The patient underwent emergency coronary angiography, which revealed a subocclusive stenosis of the mid left anterior descending artery with a TIMI 2 flow, treated by balloon angioplasty and drug-eluting stent. Four days after revascularization, the patient developed an acute deterioration with signs of decompensated heart failure and a new holosystolic murmur with large irradiation. Inotropic agents' administration was required to maintain a precarious hemodynamic condition. A bedside Echo revealed an apical VSD, measuring 15 × 10 mm, with left-to-right shunting, and pulmonary hypertension. The patient was scheduled for transcatheter PIVSD closure. The procedure was performed under fluoroscopic guide. Two vascular access sites were placed, femoral arterial and right internal jugular vein. Through the right internal jugular vein, a 24-mm Amplatzer atrial septal occluder on a 9 French Amplatzer TREVISIO™ intravascular delivery system was advanced via right ventricle into the PIVSD. Contrast fluoroscopy was used to assess apposition and the degree of shunt reduction before release. Echocardiographic evaluation performed 48 hours later confirmed a correct apposition of the device with insignificant residual shunt. At 6 months follow-up, he was asymptomatic, with unchanged prosthetic findings. CONCLUSION: Percutaneous closure has been emerged as a valid cost-effective alternative to surgery and should be advised. However, debate remains on the optimal preprocedural optimization, timing of repair and modality of treatment.

Recanalized vein of marshall following bidirectional glenn surgery.

A 6-year-old boy with a case of double outlet right ventricle with large non-routable ventricle septal defect and severe pulmonary stenosis was deemed unsuitable for biventricular repair on a prior evaluation. Hence, a bidirectional Glenn (BDG) shunt was performed at 3 years of age following cardiac catheterization.

Transcatheter closure of a large post-myocardial infarction ventricular septal defect using the GORE cardioform ASD Occluder.

A 49-year-old man presented late with an anterior wall myocardial infarction (MI) status post-primary coronary intervention of the left anterior descending artery that resulted in no reflow of the vessel. The patient was transferred to our institution in cardiogenic shock.

Cor triatriatum sinister with dextrocardia in association with ostium secundum atrial septal defect, subpulmonary ventricular septal defect and bicuspid pulmonary valve in a pig.

Necropsy of a 52-day-old Camborough pig revealed numerous cardiac malformations. The positional relationship of the atria, ventricles and great vessels was a mirror image type (I, L and L): inverted arrangement of the atria, with a left-sided right atrium and right-sided left atrium (situs inversus); inverted arrangement of the ventricles, with a left-sided morphological right ventricle and right-sided morphological left ventricle (L-loop); and aortic valve to the front left relative to the pulmonary valve (L-malposed). The major malformations included an ostium secundum atrial septal defect, cor triatriatum sinister (CTS), a subpulmonary ventricular septal defect and a bicuspid pulmonary valve. Histological examination revealed myocyte hypertrophy, focal myocardial necrosis and calcification in the left morphological right ventricle of the heart. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of CTS in pigs. Although the individual malformations found in the present case are not unique, an unusual combination of these cardiac malformations has not been described in animals.

Prognosis Analysis of Children with Interrupted Aortic Arch Complicated with Ventricular Septal Defect and Other Associated Intracardiac Defects after One-Stage Radical Surgery.

BACKGROUND: High rates of mortality and aortic arch stenosis have been reported for one-stage radical surgery of interruption of aortic arch (IAA) with ventricular septal defect (VSD) and other associated intracardiac defects, but the sample size of the study is relatively small, and the credibility of the study is not high. The risk factors of death and aortic arch stenosis will be analyzed in a large sample size of infants with IAA, VSD and other associated intracardiac defects after one-stage radical resection. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 152 children with IAA, VSD and other associated intracardiac defects from January 2006 to January 2017 who had undergone one-stage radical resection, including 95 cases of type A and 57 cases of type B. January 2006-December 2011 as the early period, and January 2012-January 2017 as the late period. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to analyze the risk factors for mortality and aortic arch stenosis after surgery, the overall survival rate was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the survival curve was drawn by GraphPad Prism 8 software. RESULTS: 22 cases (14.47%) died, 27 cases (17.76%) developed aortic arch stenosis. The 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates were 85.53%, 85.53%, 85.53%, 84.21%, 78.95% and 75.66%, respectively. Low age (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.551, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.320-0.984, p = 0.004), low body weight (HR = 0.632, 95% CI: 0.313-0.966, p = 0.003), large ratio of VSD diameter/aortic diameter (VSD/AO) (HR = 2.547, 95% CI: 1.095-7.517, p = 0.044), long duration of cardiopulmonary bypass (HR = 1.374, 95% CI: 1.000-3.227, p = 0.038), and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) (HR = 3.959, 95% CI: 1.123-9.268, p = 0.015) were independent risk factors for postoperative death. The surgical period (January 2006-December 2011) (HR = 0.439, 95% CI: 0.109-0.964, p = 0.046) and the addition of pericardial anastomosis to the anterior aortic wall (HR = 0.398, 95% CI: 0.182-0.870, p = 0.021) were independent risk factors for postoperative aortic arch stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: Children with low age, low body weight, large ratio of VSD/AO, long duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, LVOTO, the surgical period (January 2006-December 2011) and pericardial anastomosis with anterior aortic wall have poor prognosis.

The Gasul Phenomenon Still Alive in the Developing World: A Case Report.

Background: In child, ventricular septal defect is the most prevalent congenital cardiac disease. Some ventricular septal defects have the potential for spontaneous closure. In poor nations closure based on indications may not be feasible. The patient's natural course may therefore be observed. The Gasul phenomenon, a right ventricular outflow obstruction, is one of the complications. Case Presentation: A 7-year-old child who had recurrent pneumonia, poor weight gain, and excessive sweating eventually had these symptoms go away. A large peri membranous ventricular septal defect and a small patent ductus arteriosus was detected on echocardiography during infancy. Later, the patient acquired a muscular ridge across the right ventricular outflow tract. Muscular ridge excision and closure of patent ductus arteriosus and ventricular septal defect were done. Patient was discharged in stable condition. Conclusion: Right ventricular outflow tract blockage can be avoided by performing early surgical closure of a ventricular septal defect.

Acquired infundibular pulmonary stenosis associated with a congenital membranous ventricular septal defect (Gasul phenomenon) in a dog and discussion regarding causes of infundibular stenosis.

An aclinical Havanese dog was diagnosed with a membranous restrictive ventricular septal defect. The patient was represented later in their natural history due to the development of syncope. At that time the patient was diagnosed with acquired pulmonary infundibular stenosis. Balloon dilation of the stenosis was performed successfully twice over the patient's lifetime. The patient died suddenly approximately 14 months after the second balloon dilation. A discussion regarding primary infundibular pulmonary stenosis versus causes of acquired infundibular pulmonary stenosis including anomalous muscle bundles (double chamber right ventricle), tetralogy of Fallot, and infundibular stenosis is presented.

Application of Artificial Intelligence-Based Auxiliary Diagnosis in Congenital Heart Disease Screening.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the application value of artificial intelligence-based auxiliary diagnosis for congenital heart disease. METHODS: From May 2017 to December 2019, 1892 cases of congenital heart disease heart sounds were collected for learning- and memory-assisted diagnosis. The diagnosis rate and classification recognition were verified in 326 congenital heart disease cases. Auscultation and artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis were used in 518 258 congenital heart disease screenings, and the detection accuracies of congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension were compared. RESULTS: Female sex and age > 14 years were predominant in atrial septal defect (P <.001) compared with ventricular septal defect/patent ductus arteriosus cases. Family history was more prominent in patent ductus arteriosus patients (P <.001). Compared with no pulmonary arterial hypertension, a male predominance was seen in cases of congenital heart disease-pulmonary arterial hypertension (P <.001), and age was significantly associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension (P =.008). A high prevalence of extracardiac anomalies was found in the pulmonary arterial hypertension group. A total of 326 patients were examined by artificial intelligence. The detection rate of atrial septal defect was 73.8%, which was different from that of auscultation (P =.008). The detection rate of ventricular septal defect was 78.8, and the detection rate of patent ductus arte-riosus was 88.9%. A total of 518 258 people from 82 towns and 1220 schools were screened including 15 453 suspected and 3930 (7.58%) confirmed cases. The detection accuracy of artificial intelligence in ventricular septal defect (P =.007) and patent ductus arteriosus (P =.021) classification was higher than that of auscultation. For normal cases, the recurrent neural network had a high accuracy of 97.77% in congenital heart disease-pulmonary arterial hypertension diagnosis (P =.032). CONCLUSION: Artificial intelligence-based diagnosis is an effective assistance method for congenital heart disease screening.

Imaging and surgical management of congenital heart diseases.

Congenital heart disease affects approximately 1% of live births per year. In recent years, there has been a decrease in the morbidity and mortality of these cases due to advances in medical and surgical care. Imaging plays a key role in the management of these children, with chest radiography, echocardiography and chest ultrasound the first diagnostic tools, and cardiac computed tomography, catheterization and magnetic resonance imaging reserved to assess better the anatomy and physiology of the most complex cases. This article is a beginner's guide to the anatomy of the most frequent congenital heart diseases (atrial and ventricular septal defects, abnormal pulmonary venous connections, univentricular heart, tetralogy of Fallot, transposition of the great arteries and coarctation of the aorta), their surgical management, the most common postsurgical complications, deciding which imaging modality is needed, and when and how to image gently.

Swiss Evaluation Registry for Pediatric Infective Endocarditis (SERPIE) - Risk factors for complications in children and adolescents with infective endocarditis.

BACKGROUND: Infective endocarditis (IE) in pediatric patients is a severe cardiac disease and its actual epidemiology and clinical outcome in Switzerland is scarcely studied. METHODS: Retrospective nationwide multicenter data analysis of pediatric IE in children (<18 years) between 2011 and 2020. RESULTS: 69 patients were treated for definite (40/69;58%) or possible IE (29/69;42%). 61% (42/69) were male. Diagnosis was made at median 6.4 years (IQR 0.8-12.6) of age with 19 patients (28%) during the first year of life. 84% (58/69) had congenital heart defects. IE was located on pulmonary (25/69;35%), mitral (10/69;14%), tricuspid (8/69;12%) and aortic valve (6/69;9%), and rarely on ventricular septal defect (VSD;4/69;6%) and atrial septal defect (ASD;1/69;1%). In 22% (16/69) localization was unknown. 70% (48/69) had postoperative IE, with prosthetic material involved in 60% (29/48; right ventricular to pulmonary artery conduit (24), VSD (4), ASD (1)). Causative organisms were mostly Staphylococci spp. (25;36%) including Staphylococcus aureus (19;28%), and Streptococci spp. (13;19%). 51% (35/69) suffered from severe complications including congestive heart failure (16;23%), sepsis (17;25%) and embolism (19;28%). Staphylococcus aureus was found as a predictor of severe complications in univariate and multivariate analysis (p = 0.02 and p = 0.033). In 46% (32/69) cardiac surgery was performed. 7% (5/69) died. CONCLUSIONS: IE in childhood remains a severe cardiac disease with relevant mortality. The high morbidity and high rate of complications is associated with Staphylococcus aureus infections. Congenital heart defects act as a risk factor for IE, in particular the high number of cases associated with prosthetic pulmonary valve needs further evaluation and therapeutic alternatives.

A Rare Cause of Right Heart Failure in An Adult: Congenital Gerbode Defect.

Gerbode defect is a rare defect describing a left ventricle to right atrium shunt with symptoms dependent on the size and degree of the shunt. It is either a congenital defect detected in infancy, or an acquired case reported in older age. Diagnosis by means of echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is of paramount importance before surgical correction is contemplated to achieve a good prognosis.

The Interventricular Septal Hematoma Following Surgical Correction of Ventricular Septal Defect in Infants: A Single-Center Experience.

OBJECTIVE: To review and analyze the cases of interventricular septal hematoma (IVSH) following surgical correction of the ventricular septal defect (VSD) in infants in our center. METHODS: Retrospective analysis was performed on five infants with IVSH after surgical correction of VSD in our center from January 2020 to January 2022. The general preoperative information and intraoperative and postoperative results were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: All five infants with VSD were repaired under cardiopulmonary bypass and occurred IVSH. The cardiac arrest occurred in one patient five hours after return to the intensive care unit (ICU). The patient's hemodynamics were difficult to maintain after cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the patient died. Two other patients had arrhythmia and unstable hemodynamics during the perioperative period, the hematoma puncture was performed, and the patients' symptoms lessened. Perioperative and postoperative echocardiography showed that the hematoma gradually was shrunk, and the hemodynamics became stable. The hemodynamics were stable in the remaining two infants during the perioperative period. No specific medical intervention was required other than clinical observation in these two patients. Finally, the four infants successfully were discharged with good clinical results. CONCLUSION: IVSH is a rare complication of surgical repair of VSD. Prevention and early detection of IVSH during operation in infants with VSD are essential.

Hybrid closure of ventricular septal defect and implantation of systemic right ventricular assist device.

A 50-year-old female patient was readmitted with refractory systemic right ventricular failure. The patient underwent a Mustard procedure during childhood for transposition of the great arteries. A significant residual ventricular septal defect was present, which represents a major risk factor of death following ventricular assist device. We describe the combination of ventricular assist device implantation preceded by hybrid closure of ventricular septal defect.

Early and long-term results of ventricular septal defect repair in children with severe pulmonary hypertension and elevated pulmonary vascular resistance by the double or traditional patch technique.

OBJECTIVES: In upper-income countries, infants undergo low-risk ventricular septal defect (VSD) repair. Children in low- and middle-income countries frequently present at older ages with elevated pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Expensive interventions for pulmonary hypertensive crisis are not available, and children are often denied an operation due to the mortality risk. We report our early and late experiences with these patients who underwent VSD closure by traditional patch (TP) or double patch (DP) techniques. METHODS: We extracted data from patients with VSD and PAH who underwent VSD closure operations from 1996 to 2016. Information regarding cardiac catheterizations, operations, time in the intensive care unit and follow-up information was found. We identified 129 children and analysed the differences between the TP (89/129) and the DP (40/129) in unidirectional groups. After 2005, the patients were pretreated with sildenafil 3 months before catheterization. RESULTS: The TP group was younger (P < 0.001). Hospital mortality (2.5%, DP; 10.1%,TP) was not significantly different (P = 0.17) between the 2 groups despite significant differences in baseline PVR, PVR/systemic vascular resistance and the number of children with a saturation less than 90%. The long-term survival and regression of PAH were better in the DP group (survival over 97% vs 93% in the TP group). Moreover, 61% of children with DP and 75% of those with TP had normal to mild elevations in pulmonary artery pressures at the last follow-up examination (P = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS: The DP operation is a low-risk procedure. Moreover, the long-term outcome with the use of this technique in high-risk patients with VSD and high PVR and PAH is favourable with respect to survival and showed a decrease in PAH at the last follow-up.

Experience of repair ventricular septal defect with left superior vena cava through right axillary thoracotomy.

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the experience in the treatment of repair ventricular septal defect with left superior vena cava (LSVC) through right axillary thoracotomy. To explore the surgical strategy of treating VSD with LSVC through right axillary thoracotomy. METHODS: right axillary thoracotomy and median sternotomy were performed in 73 cases of ventricular septal defect with LSVC in our center from 2018 to 2019. Perioperative data and surgical information were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: There were 54 cases of R-group and 19 cases of S-group with median age of 0.8 years (0.5-1.6years). In the 73 patients, 21(38.9%) were men and 52 (61.1%) women. The operation time of R-group was shorter than S-group, p<0.05. The postoperative drainage in R-group was less than S-group, p<0.05. The mechanical ventilation time was longer in the S-group than in the R-group, p<0.05. There were no deaths, serious complications and readmission in the follow-up 6 months(3-10months). CONCLUSION: Right axillary thoracotomy is a safe procedure with excellent cosmetic and clinical results for ventricular septal defect with left superior vena cava. It has the advantages of short operation time, less bleeding and short postoperative time.

Maternal serum-derived exosomal lactoferrin as a marker in detecting and predicting ventricular septal defect in fetuses.

Among different types of congenital heart diseases, ventricular septal defect is the most frequently diagnosed type and is frequently missed in early prenatal screening programs. Herein, we explored the role of maternal serum-derived exosomes in detecting and predicting ventricular septal defect in fetuses in the early stage of pregnancy. A total of 104 pregnant women consisting of 52 ventricular septal defect cases and 52 healthy controls were recruited. TMT/iTRAQ proteomic analysis uncovered 15 maternal serum exosomal proteins, which showed differential expression between ventricular septal defect and control groups. Among these, four down-regulated proteins, lactoferrin, SBSN, DCD, and MBD3, were validated by Western blot. The protein lactoferrin was additionally verified by ELISA which was able to distinguish ventricular septal defects from controls with area under the ROC curve (AUC) 0.804 (p < 0.001). Our findings reveal that lactoferrin in maternal serum-derived exosomes may be a potential biomarker for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of fetal ventricular septal defects.