complication following the transcatheter closure of a muscular ventricular septal defect

Today, congenital heart diseases may be treated without surgery through advances in interventional cardiology. However, complications such as infection and thrombus formation may develop due to foreign materials used during these procedures. Surgical intervention may be required for the removal of the device utilized for the procedure. In this case report, we present the surgical treatment of a residual ventricular septal defect [VSD] that had developed in a 6-year-old patient with an apical muscular VSD closed with the Amplatzer muscular VSD device. The patient was admitted to the emergency room with complaints of abdominal pain and high fever 5 days after discharge without any cardiac symptoms. When she arrived at our clinic, she had a heart rate of 95 bpm, blood pressure of 110/70 mmHg, and temperature of 38.5 [degree]C. Examinations of the other systems were normal, except for a 3/6 pan-systolic murmur at the mesocardiac focus on cardiac auscultation. Echocardiography showed a residual VSD, and the total pulmonary blood flow to the total systemic blood flow ratio [Qp/Qs] of the residual VSD was 1.8. In the operating room, the Amplatzer device was removed easily with a blunt dissection. The VSD was closed with an autologous fresh pericardial patch. Following the pulmonary artery debanding procedure, the postoperative period was uneventful. The condition of the patient at the time of discharge and in the first postoperative month's follow-up was good. There was no residual VSD or infection

value of neurologic and cardiologic assessment in breath holding spells

To evaluate the value of neurologic and cardiologic assessment and also the frequency of iron deficiency anemia in children with Breath Holding Spells [BHS]. The hospital charts of patients diagnosed with BHS between 2011 and 2013 were reviewed retrospectively. A total of 165 children [90 boys, 75 girls] with BHS comprised the study group. A matched group of 200 children with febrile convulsions served as controls. Among the first-degree relatives, 13.3% had BHS, 1.8% had febrile convulsions and 12.1% had epilepsy. The spells were cyanotic in 140 [84.8%] children and pallid or mixed in the remainder. BNS type was simple in 46.7% of patients and complicated in the remainder. Eighteen patients had abnormalities in electroencephalography, however only one patient was diagnosed with epilepsy. Sixty nine [47.9%] patients were found to have iron deficiency anemia. Referral of children with clinically definite BHS to pediatric neurology or pediatric cardiology clinics and performance of echocardiography and EEG investigations for exclusion of heart disease or epilepsy appear unnecessary. However, performance of an electrocardiogram to search for prolonged QT syndrome should be considered although no patient in our series had any cardiologic abnormalities