The transcatheter closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) may cause more complications in small children. Amplatzer (St. Jude Medical, Plymouth, MN) has produces three types of devices for ductal occlusion: the Amplatzer duct occluder I (ADO I) and II (ADO II) and the recently introduced ADO II additional sizes (ADO II AS). We performed this study to determine the efficacy and complication rates in children who weigh <10 kg for the three types of devices used in our clinic. Between February 2007 and March 2012, 77 patients weighing <10 kg had their PDAs occluded with ADOs. The mean age of the patients was 0.76 ± 0.44 years (range 17 days-2 years), and their mean weight was 6.73 ± 2.05 (range 1.2-9.9) kg. In total, 54 girls (70.1 %) and 23 boys (29.9 %) with a mean pulmonary ductus diameter of 2.55 ± 1.0 (1.08-5.94) mm were included in the study. The ADO I was used in 26 patients (33.8 %); the ADO II was used in 43 patients (55.8 %); and the ADO II AS was used in 8 patients (10.4 %). The mean ages of patients with the ADO I, ADO II, and ADO II AS were 1.07 ± 0.48, 0.66 ± 0.31, and 0.28 ± 0.17 years (p < 0.05), respectively. Their mean weights were 7.86 ± 1.45, 6.50 ± 1.85, and 4.36 ± 2.49 kg (p < 0.05), respectively. Their mean narrowest ductal diameters were 3.11 ± 0.96, 2.25 ± 1.06, and 2.33 ± 1.01 mm (p < 0.05), respectively. The use of the ADO II and ADO II AS was found to be more common in type C defects. One patient with the ADO I and 5 patients with the ADO II (7.8 %) developed varying degrees of left pulmonary artery stenosis or iatrogenic aortic coarctation. In 1 patient, the ADO II AS was replaced with the ADO II due to a significant residual shunt observed during the procedure. Each of the ADOs has its own advantages and disadvantages. Although the ADO I is convenient for medium- and large-sized defects, the ADO II and ADO II AS can be used both anterogradely and retrogradely. The ADO II AS is safe and efficient to use in small infants.

The transcatheter closure of PDA is relatively safe and effective in preterms and in infants <6 kg. The selection of a suitable device based on the type of PDA is critical to the success of the procedure.

Background and objective: Severe sepsis and septic shock are life-threatening organ dysfunctions and causes of death in critically ill patients. The therapeutic goal of the management of sepsis is restoring balance to the immune system and fluid balance. Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is recommended in septic patients, and it may improve outcomes in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is another extracorporeal procedure that can improve organ function by decreasing inflammatory and anti-fibrinolytic mediators and correcting haemostasis by replenishing anticoagulant proteins. However, research about sepsis and CRRT and TPE in children has been insufficient and incomplete. Therefore, we investigated the reliability and efficacy of extracorporeal therapies in paediatric patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. Materials and methods: We performed a multicentre retrospective study using data from all patients aged <18 years who were admitted to two paediatric intensive care units. Demographic data and reason for hospitalization were recorded. In addition, vital signs, haemogram parameters, and biochemistry results were recorded at 0 h and after 24 h of CRRT. Patients were compared according to whether they underwent CRRT or TPE; mortality between the two treatment groups was also compared. Results: Between January 2014 and April 2019, 168 septic patients were enrolled in the present study. Of them, 47 (27.9%) patients underwent CRRT and 24 underwent TPE. In patients with severe sepsis, the requirement for CRRT was statistically associated with mortality (p < 0.001). In contrast, the requirement for TPE was not associated with mortality (p = 0.124). Conclusion: Our findings revealed that the requirement for CRRT in patients with severe sepsis is predictive of increased mortality. CRRT and TPE can be useful techniques in critically ill children with severe sepsis. However, our results did not show a decrease of mortality with CRRT and TPE.

Göğüs ağrısı çocuklarda sık görülen bir yakınmadır. Fakat kardiyak kökenli göğüs ağrısı çok az görülmektedir. C alıs mamızın amacı, c ocuk kardiyoloji poliklinig ine go g u s ag rısı nedeniyle bas vuran c ocuklarda tanısal nedenlerin belirlenmesidir. Gereç ve Yöntem: Çalışmaya C ocuk Kardiyoloji poliklinig ine Mart 2017-Ekim 2017 tarihleri arasında go g u s ag rısı yakınmasıyla bas vuran yas ları 3-18 arasında değişen 111'i kız, 99'u erkek olmak üzere 210 vaka alındı. Hastaların dosyalarından öz-soygeçmiş özellikleri, muayenelerindeki patolojik bulguları, ilaç kullanım öyküleri, elektrokardiyografi ve ekokardiyografi sonuçları kaydedildi. Bu veriler istatistiksel olarak değerlendirildi, hastaların dosyalarından etiyolojik nedenler ve tanıların sıklıkları ile cinsiyete ve yaşa göre dağılımları incelendi. Analizlerde SPSS 22.0 programı kullanıldı. Bulgular: Vakalarda göğüs ağrısı en sık istirahat halinde iken (%66.1) ve sternum solunda (%70.7) ortaya çıktığı saptandı. Göğüs ağrısı nedenleri ise en sık sırasıyla kasiskelet sistemi (%43.8), idiyopatik (%28.1) ve psikojenik (%14.7) nedenlere bağlı olduğu görüldü. Bir hastada ise kardiyak nedenli (%0.5) göğüs ağrısı saptandı. Psikojenik nedenli göğüs ağrıları kızlarda daha sık (%54.8) olarak görüldü. Psikojenik nedenlerden depresyon (%68), anksiyete bozukluğu (%25.6) ve panik atak (%6.4) saptandı. Sonuç: Çocukluk c ag ı go g u s ag rılarının c ok az bir kısmı kardiyak nedenlidir. İdiyopatik nedenler, kas-iskelet sistemi kaynaklı nedenlerin yanı sıra psikojenik nedenler de göğüs ağrısı nedeni olarak akılda tutulmalıdır. Tanının kesinleştirilmesi hasta ve ailesinin endişesini gidermek ve doğru tedaviyi uygulamak için çok önemlidir. Ayrıca bu çocukların kardiyolojiye rutin sevkleri ailenin kaygılarını daha çok arttırabileceğinden ve uzun süren pahalı değerlendirmelere neden olacağından her zaman iyi sonuç vermeyebilir.

The use of a medical device outside of its approved purpose is commonly referred to as "off-label use". This study showed that the issue of off-label, non-routine use of devices exists in paediatric cardiology. Furthermore, the percutaneous closure of defects with non-routine Amplatzer devices is safe and effective, with a high success rate and a high follow-up term outcome.

Background:Chest pain, as a common cause of hospital admissions in childhood, necessitates detailed investigations due to a wide range of differential diagnoses. In this study, we aimed to determine the distribution of diseases causing chest pain in children and investigate the clinical characteristics of children with chest pain.Methods:This study included 782 patients aged between 3 and 18 years who presented to a paediatric cardiology outpatient clinic with chest pain between April 2017 and March 2018. Aetiological causes and demographic features of the patients were analysed.Results:Most prevalent causes of chest pain were musculoskeletal system (33%) and psychogenic (28.4%) causes. Chest pain due to cardiac reasons was seen in eight patients (1%). Diseases of musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal systems and psychogenic disorders were significantly more common in male and female patients, respectively (p < 0.001 for all). In winter, patients’ age and the number of patients with ≥12 years were higher than those in other seasons (p < 0.001). Most of the parents (70.8%) and patients (90.2%) thought that chest pain in their children was caused by cardiac causes.Conclusion:Most of the diagnoses for chest pain in childhood period are benign and include the musculoskeletal system and psychogenic diseases. Although chest pain due to cardiac diseases is rare, a comprehensive analysis of medical history, detailed physical examination and cardiac imaging with echocardiography is needed to reach more accurate diagnoses.

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Objective: Cardiac failure due to iron overload remains the most common cause of death in patients with beta-thalassemia major. This study aimed to evaluate myocardial function in children with beta-thalassemia major using standard echocardiography technique and strain rate imaging.Materials and Methods: Conventional echocardiographic analysis, tissue velocity imaging, and strain/strain rate imaging of the left ventricle were evaluated in 48 children with beta-thalassemia major (19 girls, 29 boys; 8.39±4.05 years) and 22 healthy children (11 girls, 11 boys; 8±3.72 years). Results: Conventional echocardiographic examinations revealed that beta-thalassemia patients had larger left ventricular end-systolic diameter, end-diastolic and end-systolic volume, left ventricular mass index, and mitral early/late diastolic flow velocity ratio (p<0.05). Strain and strain rate imaging study of the basal lateral wall of the left ventricle was higher in patients than in controls, at p=0.035 and p=0.008, respectively. Conclusion: We found that superior systolic strain and strain rate imaging of the left ventricle indicated the presence of regional systolic function in the left ventricular wall. We suggest that left ventricle volume and mass index parameters might be more sensitive than the other conventional and strain/strain rate imaging parameters during childhood. However, the adulthood strain and strain rate imaging values may be lower than controls, exceeding the critical level of iron overload.Conflict of interest:None declared.