Outcome of Cardiac Surgery in Children under 15 years with Congenital Heart Disease in Lao-Luxembourg Heart Center, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR / Lao Medical Journal

Background@#Congenital heart disease is the most common causes of major congenital malformations. Congenital heart disease (CHD) represents, globally, 28% of all congenital anomalies, with a prevalence of about 8 to 10 per 1000 people live births, and they mostly require corrective surgery.@*Objective@#To describe outcomes of congenital heart surgery in children under 15 years in Vientiane, Lao PDR.@*Methods@#We undertook retrospective analyses of children with CHD who underwent cardiac surgery by the ASD teams at the Laos-Luxembourg Heart Center, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane Capital, by reviewing the medical charts of patients discharged during 1st January 2014 to 31st December 2018.@*Results@#Of a total of 415 patients with CHD, 185 underwent cardiac surgery that were the simple lesion 62.1%; moderate lesion 36.0%, complex lesion 1.6%, respectively. The patients who met the inclusion criteria in this study were 158 with a median age of 51 months and those with preschool age of 52.0%. Corrective surgery was the commonest conducted at 98.1%. The major procedure was VSD closure at 34.8%. The post-operative complication found in 30.0%. Overall in hospital mortality rate was 8.8% (by RICHS-1 method). @*Conclusion@#Congenital heart disease surgery in children under 15 years old at Laos-Luxembourg Heart Center, Mahosot Hospital was significantly associated with post-operative complications and high mortality. Therefore, trainings on CHD surgery and Post-CHD surgery care must be urgently organized to the Lao cardiac surgeons and nurses to reduce complications and deaths.

Uncommon Presentation of Infective Endocarditis / Lao Medical Journal

@#Diagnosis of infective endocarditis is challenging as the clinical diversity of the disease sometimes misleads clinicians in the recognition, correct diagnosis and rapid treatment, which are important to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with this disease. We report the case of a 14-year-old girl who presented with left axillary pain and fever. She was eventually diagnosed with infective endocarditis caused by Abiotropia defectiva, complicated by a large saccular aneurysm of the left axillary artery.@*@#