Diagnostico prenatal de las cardiopatias congenitas / Prenatal diagnosis of congenital cardiopathy

Fetal echocardiography can be performed as early as the 16th week gestation and with improved equipment all forms of congenital heart diseases can be detected in utero. In this article we discuss the indications for a fetal heart echocardiography and the techniques used in a fetal heart examination and review the structural and functional information that can be obtained.

Evaluacion clinica, electrocardiografica y angiografica de los reservorios naturales de la enfermedad de chagas en la Republica de Panama / Clinical, electrocardiographic and angiographic evaluation of natural reservoirs of Chagas' disease in the Republic of Panama

The authors studied two groups of natural animal reservoirs for Trypanosoma cruzi: a wild one, the common rat Rattus rattus and the house dog, Canis canis. Thirty one naturally infected rats were evaluated with a technique developed by the authors which allows the recording of the ECG and the performance of a ventricular angiogram without altering the functional capacity of the animal. Forty four dogs were followed clinically for a period of twenty years to study the development of the cardiac lesion seen in the chronic phase of the disease. The authors demonstrate the epidemiologic importance of the dog as a reservoir and the ease with which the infection can be acquired from rats, which live in the same habitat with human patients. The most common lesions in both groups were ventricular and atrial arrhythmias and second degree AV block; and, in the dogs, also death due to refractory cardiac failure, such as is seen in the human patient. Right bundle branch block and dilatation of the right cardiac chambers was the rule in both groups. The authors discuss the pathogenesis of the ECG in the rat and its anatomical basis. They propose the possibility of establishing and standardizing this techniques in the laboratories that study rats or other species

Hipertensión arterial en niños / Arterial hypertension in children

Arterial hypertension is the main cause of cardiovascular problems in adults. To better know the scope of arterial hypertension in children in our midst, the authors measured the arterial blood pressure in 8642 Panamanian children between 1 month and 18 years of age and studied the principal causes of arterial hypertension. The authors propose norms for the identification and clinical and pharmacological management of arterial hypertension in Panamanian children