No abstract

One hundred consecutive patients (54 girls, 46 boys) referred to a pediatric cardiology department with the primary complaint of chest pain were evaluated. The age distribution was 2.5-16.0 years (mean 11.3 years for girls and 9.9 years for boys). The history showed 17% of patients with chest pain, 22% with heart disease, and 19% with recent death in the family. The time course of the pain was longer than 1 week in 92 patients. Localization was on the left precordium in 60 patients, and there was no radiation from the original site in 66 cases. Ninety-two percent of cases were idiopathic in origin. Of the 74 patients who had a psychiatric interview, 55 (74%) had psychiatric symptoms and 5 required psychiatric care. Anxiety, conversion disorder, and depression were the main psychiatric symptoms.

INTRODUCTION:Normal values of the 6-min walk distance (6MWD) for children have not been well demonstrated. This limits the interpretation of the 6MWD in children. METHODS: A crosssectional prospective study was designed. A total of 949 (467 males, 482 females) healthy children were recruited randomly from 7 Turkish secondary schools in Ankara. The 6-min walk tests were conducted according to the American Thoracic Society guidelines. RESULTS: The mean 6MWD decreased between the ages of 12 and 14 y for both boys and girls, and then gradually increased until 17 y of age. In the best fitting and most efficient linear, quadratic, and categorical regression models, the age of the subjects, heart rate after the test, and physical activity level of the subjects were significantly related to the 6MWD. Nevertheless, these variables explained < 20% of the variance in the 6MWD. CONCLUSIONS: The 6MWD does not increase in a straight linear fashion from the age of 12 until adulthood. Correlation of the 6MWD with anthropometric features is very weak, so in evaluating the 6MWD, the standard curves should be used.

Transthoracic echocardiography usually visualizes dilated coronary sinus in association with PLSVC. However, SVC injection should be performed in patients undergoing angiography so that morbidity and mortality related with persistent left superior vena cava can be avoided during cardiovascular surgery.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). This study was designed to determine biomarker levels in patients with PAH associated with CHD (PAH-CHD) and CHD patients without PAH and to investigate the relationship of these potential biomarkers with hemodynamic findings. In this prospective single-center study, patients with CHD were analyzed according to the presence or absence of PAH and compared with healthy control subjects. Cardiac catheterization and echocardiographs were performed. Plasma homocysteine, asymmetric dimethyl arginine (ADMA), and nitric oxide (NO) levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Homocysteine and ADMA levels were higher in the PAH-CHD group (n = 30) than among CHD patients with left-to-right shunting but no PAH (n = 20; P < 0.001) and healthy control subjects (n = 20; P < 0.001). There was no difference in NO levels. Cyanotic PAH-CHD patients had significantly higher homocysteine than acyanotic patients in the same group. No correlation was shown between echocardiographic/hemodynamic parameters and homocysteine, ADMA, and NO levels. Homocysteine and ADMA levels are increased in patients with PAH-CHD. These parameters have the potential to be used as biomarkers in the diagnosis and follow-up evaluation of patients with PAH-CHD. However, large, multicentered prospective studies are required to facilitate routine use of these biologic markers in the clinical setting.

This study aimed to determine mean pulmonary arterial pressure (PAPmean) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) using transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) measurements of the pulmonary artery flow velocity curve in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and congenital heart disease when the tricuspid regurgitant velocity (TRV) is not sufficient. This study enrolled 29 congenital heart disease cases with pulmonary arterial hypertension and 40 healthy subjects followed at our center. The mean age was 66.9 ± 77.9 months in the patient group and 76.3 ± 62.1 months in the control group. A positive correlation was found between TRV and systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (r = 0.394, p = 0.035, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.032-0.665), whereas a negative correlation was found between corrected acceleration time (AcTc) and PAPmean (r = -0.559, p = 0.002, 95% CI = -0.768 to -0.242). Furthermore, a negative correlation was found between parameters TRV and AcTc (r = -0.383, p = 0.001, 95% CI = -0.657 to -0.019). Based on the cutoff criterion of 124 ms for AcTc, sensitivity was found to be 79.3% and specificity to be 77.5% in distinguishing between the PAH patients and the healthy control patients (receiver operating characteristic [ROC] area under the curve [AUC] = 0.804, 95% CI = 0.691-0.890, p < 0.0001). The sensitivity and specificity of the concomitant use of AcTc and/or TRV were found to be 90 and 73%, respectively, in distinguishing between the PAH patients and the the healthy control patients. The data obtained by TTE also can be appropriate for measuring PAPmean, PVR, and the vasoreactivity test and for determining the priority of implementing cardiac catheterization even if there is no measurable TRV value.

To define the relation between atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and hemodynamic parameters in children with pulmonary artery hypertension, we measured the ANP concentrations of the femoral vein, right atrium, pulmonary artery, left atrium and left ventricle, or femoral artery in 32 patients during right or left heart catheterization. There is a strong correlation among the ANP levels obtained from different locations (p < 0.001), and these ANP levels are positively correlated with pulmonary arterial pressures and pulmonary resistance. Patients were divided into two groups according to their pulmonary arterial pressure. The group with pulmonary arterial systolic pressure higher than 31 mmHg had higher ANP levels than the group with pulmonary arterial systolic pressure lower than 31 mmHg. When patients were grouped according to their pulmonary resistance, ANP levels in the group with pulmonary resistance over 2 U/m2 were higher than those in the group with pulmonary resistance lower than 2 U/m2. In this study ANP levels showed a correlation with the right ventricular systolic pressure. A correlation was not seen between ANP levels and the flow ratios or the presence of shunt. The results of our study suggest that ANP should be considered an important factor in pulmonary hypertension, independent of other factors.

Our findings demonstrated that echocardiographic and biochemical abnormalities could be found even at low cumulative doses of AC antibiotics. The use of serial echocardiographic studies and plasma BNP determinations to identify high-risk patients for cardiotoxicity needs to be verified by additional studies.