The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, compliance, and practice of antibiotic endocarditis prophylaxis (AEP) for patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) during various diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. Patients (296) and their parents were interrogated during a visit with an 18-question survey pertaining to the practice of AEP. Most patients (91.6%) had acyanotic congenital heart disease, usually preoperative (45.3%), or had high risk of infective endocarditis due to previous endocarditis (2.0%), cyanosis (8.4%), or prosthetic valves (5.4%). Potential sources for failure of AEP were (1) no existence of a wallet card (6.8%), no communication between patient and doctor concerning the potential risk of endocarditis during a visit (13.2%), or no sufficient anamnestic inquiry by the physician before procedures were performed (43.2%). The patients underestimated (4.4%) or had no knowledge of the individual risks of endocarditis (37.5%) or underestimated indication for AEP (11.1%). AEP was often not performed at all (60.5%). Bad dental status with no previous dental therapy (35.5%) and a high rate of caries (17.2%) or gingivitis (7.4%) even in young children was frequent. AEP for patients with CHD has not been sufficiently used because of the patient's, and the physician's failure to take the necessary steps, the cardiac diagnosis, or the dental health status. Alternative strategies in prophylaxis for AEP are discussed here.

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The scimitar syndrome is a rare congenital cardiopulmonary malformation. In association with a horseshoe lung it is extremely uncommon. We describe a child with typical scimitar syndrome (anomalous right pulmonary venous return, hypoplasia of the right lung with dextro-position of the heart and aberrant systemic arterial supply of the right lung), associated with a horseshoe lung. No clinical symptoms are present, surgical management is not necessary. This is the 20th case in addition to the 19 reported cases with scimitar syndrome associated with horseshoe lung. Eight other additional cases of horseshoe lung without scimitar syndrome are mentioned here. In horseshoe lung the pulmonary parenchyma extends from the right lung base across the midline and fuses with the left lung. In only 3 cases continuous parenchymal tissue could be found histological. In 8 cases the lungs were separated by fissurelike structures, seen in CT or chest film, and in 5 cases fissures were demonstrated histological. From 6 patients no findings are available. The various symptoms, the diagnostic tools and the therapeutic procedure will be discussed.

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Treadmill exercise electrocardiography and spirometry was recorded in 61 patients (aged from 5 to 23 years) who underwent corrective surgery for tetralogy of Fallot. The Bruce-protocol and a modified interval-protocol were compared to find out their ability to induce arrhythmias. Supraventricular arrhythmias were predominantly provoked by the interval-protocol while maximal exhaustion is often necessary for inducing ventricular arrhythmias which we found in 23% of our patients. Most of them were seen in the periods of recovery between or after the exercise. We propose a combination of both protocols, which will be compared with established forms of exercise-testing in further studies. The results of rhythm analysis of consecutive exercise tests in one patient after surgical repair could possibly be compared by using an "arrhythmia score" which tries to indicate the severity of different forms of arrhythmias. The values of maximal heart rate, oxygen consumption and endurance time recorded at maximal exercise (Bruce-protocol) were about 15% lower than correspondent values of healthy persons found by other authors.

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