Referral Order Placement Decreases Time to Transfer to Adult Congenital Heart Disease Care
We examined the impact of referral order placement at the last pediatric cardiology visit on time to transfer to an ACHD center. We analyzed data collected from pediatric patients with moderate and great complexity CHD who were eligible to transfer to our tertiary center ’s accredited ACHD center. We examined transfer outcomes and time-to-transfer between those with a referral order placed at the last pediatric cardiology visit and those without using Cox proportional hazards modeling. The sample (n = 65) was 44.6% female and mean age at study start was 19.5  years (± 2.2). Referral orders were placed for 32.3% o...
Source: Pediatric Cardiology - April 27, 2023 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Initial Counseling Prior to Palliation for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: 2021 vs 2011
AbstractWe sought to examine current practices and changes in practice regarding initial counseling for families of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) given the evolution of options and outcomes over time. Counseling (Norwood with Blalock-Taussig-Thomas shunt (NW-BTT), NW with right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit (NW-RVPA), hybrid palliation, heart transplantation, or non-intervention/hospice (NI)) for patients with HLHS were queried via questionnaire of pediatric care professionals in 2021 and compared to identical questionnaire from 2011. Of 322 respondents in 2021 (39% female), 299 respondents w...
Source: Pediatric Cardiology - April 26, 2023 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Prenatal Congenital Heart Disease —It Takes a Multidisciplinary Village
AbstractPrenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD) allows for thoughtful multidisciplinary planning about location, timing, and need for medical interventions at birth. We sought to assess the accuracy of our prenatal cardiac diagnosis, and postnatal needs for patients with CHD utilizing a multidisciplinary approach. We performed a retrospective chart review of fetal CHD patients between 1/1/18 and 4/30/19. Maternal and infant charts were reviewed for delivery planning, subspecialty care needs, genetic evaluation, prenatal and postnatal cardiac diagnoses, need for prostaglandin (PGE) and neonatal cardiac interven...
Source: Pediatric Cardiology - April 25, 2023 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research

Triple Antiarrhythmic Therapy in Newborns with Refractory Atrioventricular Reentrant Tachycardia
We describe our experience about the use of the triple combination of flecainide  + propranolol + amiodarone as third-line regimen for refractory and recurrent AVRT in newborns. We considered a series of 14 patients who had failed both first-line and second-line therapy and were treated using the combination of flecainide + propranolol + amiodarone. Transoesophag eal electrophysiologic study (TES) was performed to test the effectiveness of medical therapy during hospitalization and to try to reduce the amount of therapy, after amiodarone wash-out, before 1 year of age. TES was repeated at 1 year of age to t...
Source: Pediatric Cardiology - April 24, 2023 Category: Cardiology Source Type: research