Pre-operative 2-D transthoracic echocardiographic diagnosis with intra-operative findings of children with structural heart diseases: A comparative analysis.

Background: Structural heart disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Echocardiography is accepted as the first line cost-effective diagnostic modality for pre-operative assessment of children with structural heart diseases. Two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (2-D TTE) may be the only diagnostic tool in a resource-poor environment where further investigations may be very expensive and not readily available. Aim: The aim of the study is to determine the degree of accuracy of pre-operative 2-D echocardiographic diagnosis with eventual surgical (intra-operative) findings among children with structural heart diseases with a view to audit the echocardiographic diagnoses and final surgical diagnoses among the patients in the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku-Ozalla Enugu, a tertiary cardiothoracic center in Enugu, South-east Nigeria. Patients and Methods: 2-D TEE (GE Model) diagnosis of all the children that had cardiac surgery at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Ituku/Ozalla Enugu over a 3-year period was studied. All the patients had at least two echocardiographic sessions and results were recorded in a proforma. Surgical findings were obtained from post-operative surgical notes. Intra-operative findings were compared with 2-D TTE findings. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The degree of accuracy was expressed as percentages. The relationship between the sensitivity of 2-D TTE and intra-operative findings as ascertained using sensitivities and positive predictive values. Results: There were 55 pediatric cardiac operations performed within the period under review. There were 22 males and 23 females, the age range was from 8 months to 17 years. Fifty-two (94.5%) were due to congenital heart diseases, whereas three (5.5%) were due to acquired heart diseases. Echocardiographic findings were the same as surgical findings in all isolated PDAs (100%), Isolated ASDs (100%), Mitral valve regurgitation three (100%), but missed out PDA as an associated finding in a case of sub-aortic VSD (7.7%) and an ASD in a case of TOF (5.9%), congenital absence of tricuspid valve was also missed as a component of complex cardiac anomaly one (1.1%). These omissions however did not change the surgical approach and outcome. Pre-operative echocardiographic diagnoses and eventual surgical diagnoses were largely concordant. The sensitivity of 2-D TTE and intra-operative findings is 94.5%, positive predictive value is 94.5%, and the false negative rate is 5.5%. Conclusion: Echocardiography is a veritable diagnostic tool in the pre-operative evaluation of children with structural heart diseases. Continuous training and re-training are key in skill development and capacity building in resource-poor countries.

Bronchial carcinoid tumors: A rare malignant tumor.

Bronchial carcinoid tumors (BCTs) are an uncommon group of lung tumors. They commonly affect the young adults and the middle aged, the same age group affected by other more common chronic lung conditions such as pulmonary tuberculosis. Diagnosis is commonly missed or delayed due to a low index of suspicion. Surgery is the mainstay of treatment with an excellent outcome. There are many reports of this rare group of tumors in the Western and Asian regions. The only report around our sub-region is a post mortem report of an atypical variant. We wish to report a case of the typical variant and increase our index of suspicion. A 25-year-old male presented with a 4 years history of cough and haemoptysis. He was repeatedly treated for bronchial asthma and pulmonary tuberculosis with no improvement of symptoms. Chest X-ray and chest computed tomography scan revealed a left upper lobe tumor. Histology reported a typical variant of BCT which was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. He had a left upper lobectomy and has done excellently well thereafter. A high index of suspicion is needed to reduce the risk of missing or delaying the diagnosis.

Radiologic management of impacted coin in the oesophagus--a case report.

The incidence of swallowed foreign body is high in children and young adults. The common age of occurrence is below 10 years of age. It is a well known paediatric emergency often requiring urgent oesophagoscopy. Majority of swallowed foreign bodies (FBs) are impacted at sites known conventionally as constrictions. The commonest FB swallowed by children is coins; by adults - bones, fish bones and large bolus of meat, and in the older age group - dentures. The most common presenting symptoms are drooling of saliva, dysphagia and odynophagia. The anatomic proximity of the upper airway and oesophagus permit the development of respiratory symptoms like cough and stridor. Long standing foreign body impaction with weight loss, consolidated lungs and failure to thrive are documented presentations of FB in the oesophagus. We present a case of a 20 year old male who inadvertently swallowed a coin which got impacted at the thoracic inlet - one of the conventional areas of constriction. He presented late with cough, stridor, odynophagia and weight loss. The presentation of weight loss that could arise from unduely prolonged odynophagia rather than from complications like fistula, empyema thoracis or ominous predisposing lesions like malignancy was noted. The case highlighted the oddity of an adult swallowing a coin, its impaction in the, oesophagus of an apparently healthy adult and the non-surgical retrieval of the FB by fluoroscopic guidance.