Pediheart: Pediatric Cardiology Today

This week we delve into the topic of pregnancy in the single ventricle Fontan patient with 2 experts in this area - Dr. Melinda Davis of University of Michigan and Dr. Mark Johnson of Imperial College - London, England - to discuss who is a good Fontan candidate for pregnancy and what are the risks. We review the latest data on this area and also the many aspects of this topic that remain unknown...

In this week's episode we learn about the latest data on pulmonary vein stenosis outcomes from a large meta-analysis of prior works on this topic and then review recent provocative data from the group in Boston on the use of adjunctive biological inhibition agents in concert with interventional approaches to combat multi vessel intraluminal pulmonary vein stenosis. The work's first author, Dr. Rya...

In this episode we review 2 wonderful recent works. The first reviews the use of perioperative EP studies to predict postoperative VT and SCD amongst TOF patients undergoing PVR. The second is an intriguing study on the relatively new concept of HIS BUNDLE pacing. Joining us this week is Dr. Edward Walsh from Boston Children's Hospital to discuss his thoughts on ventricular arrhythmias in the sett...

This week we learn about the exciting field of 3D printing in congenital heart disease. We discuss an interesting article on this topic that was recently published with one of the true world authorities on this topic, Dr. Kanwal Farooqi who is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University. Dr. Farooqi will take us through the basics of this rapidly evolving field and explain to us how t...

This week we delve into the exciting world of congenital interventional cardiology with 2 very different types of interventional cardiology research. In the first highly technical work from the group at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, we review an innovative approach to transcatheter management of pulmonary regurgitation in tetralogy when the RVOT is just too large for a valved stent....

This week we review 2 works on the topic of aortic coarctation. The first reviews outcomes of arch repair in the setting of a bovine arch and the second reviews the possible long term impact of having mild transverse arch hypoplasia after repair - a common problem afflicting many patients who have undergone coarctation repairs. Dr. Emile Bacha, Professor of Surgery at Columbia University and Dr. A...

This week we review 2 works on pediatric ventricular assist devices and the most common adverse event associated with their use - specifically, infections. Dr. Scott Auerbach, medical director of the ventricular assist device program at Denver Children's Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at The University of Colorado will discuss the findings of the PEDIMACS registry data as well as s...

This week we explore the topic of Artificial Intelligence with a true expert in the field, Dr. Anthony Chang who is chief intelligence and innovation officer at Children's Hospital of Orange County. Dr. Chang recently earned a master’s degree in Biomedical Data Science and Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University and he reviews with us what AI is, what the potential value of this technolog...

This week’s episode explores the sedative and anxiolytic agent dexmedetomidine and its use in the pediatric cardiac ICU. This agent, which was initially introduced for short term sedation, is increasingly used in our postoperative cardiac patients and we explore issues related to its use with particular attention to the issue of withdrawal. Dr. Michael Ushay, Director of Pediatric Critical Care at...

This week we devote the episode to congenital cardiac electrophysiology. We review 2 works - the first on outcomes of ablation for the treatment of atrial arrhythmias in Ebstein's anomaly and the second focuses on the ablation of posteroseptal accessory pathways in children, risks for coronary injury and strategies to avoid this potential serious complication. We are joined by Dr. Christopher McLe...

This week we review the most recent report of the SVR trial study group. The great economic cognitive and mathematical psychologist Amos Tversky once said "The world is not kind to collaboration." However, the SVR trial may just be the exception to prove Professor Tversky's rule. This month the group reports on how patients are doing 6 years after Stage I Palliation (Norwood) for HLHS -> RV-PA shu...

This week we review 2 important aspects of pediatric cardiovascular surgery - postoperative evaluation of pulmonary vein repair and management of the anomalous coronary artery for the prevention of sudden cardiac death. Dr. Carlos Mery of Texas Children's Hospital joins us to discuss the findings of a recent project he published on a large series of operations for these disorders.

This week's podcast explores the adult Fontan patient and the substantial challenges these patients face. We review 2 very recent articles on adult Fontan patients and explore the topic further with Dr. Ali Zaidi, Director of The Adult Congenital Heart Program at Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Zaidi has a number of insights into these papers based upon his extensive clinical experience. This episo...

On this podcast we explore two very recent papers on the topic of cardiac catheterization. The first is a large study reviewing the impact of NaHC03 + /- acetylcysteine on prevention of contrast nephropathy and the second is a comparison of endocarditis rates in surgical versus transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement. Dr. Gentian Lluri, the first author of the PVR paper joins us to discuss this...

This episode is in memory to Dr. Arthur Moss. We have today Dr. David Auerbach who was a key recent collaborator to review his 2 new recent works with Dr. Moss on the effects of antiseizure and antidepressant medications on LQTS patients. The discussion is very interesting and Dr. Auerbach shares his warm feelings for Dr. Moss with the audience. Finally, we end the podcast with a brief piece of op...

Today we have 2 wonderful guests - Dr. Kenan Stern of Mt. Sinai Medical Center in NY, NY and Dr. Nadine Choueiter speaking on 2 different papers/topics. The papers reviewed are: Utility of a standardized postcardiopulmonary bypass epicardial echocardiography protocol for stage I Norwood palliation and Environmental epidemiology of Kawasaki disease: Linking disease etiology, pathogenesis and global...

We review 2 articles today: Prevalence and risk factors associated with non-attendance in neurodevelopment follow-up clinic among infants with CHD - Cardiology in the Young 2018 Psychiatric Disorders and Function in Adolescents with Tetralogy of Fallot - J Peds 2017 Both wonderful works that analyze under appreciated areas of care for our patients with CHD. Please review our podcast on iTunes - yo...