Co-axial Endotracheal Tube Technique for Achieving One Lung Ventilation in a Toddler With a Space Occupying Malignant Tumor of the Right Lung.

Achieving one-lung ventilation in pediatrics is often challenging. In caring for these patients, the anesthesiologist must consider the child's age and size, underlying tracheobronchial anatomy, equipment availability, urgency of procedure, and as well as the experience level of the anesthesiologist. This report describes a "tube-inside-tube" technique that was adopted for providing one-lung ventilation in a toddler. The method described here involved railroading a smaller endotracheal tube over a flexible intubation video endoscope into the left mainstem bronchus coaxially through a larger endotracheal tube placed in the trachea. The technique achieved effective left-lung ventilation and isolation of the operative right lung during surgical resection of a malignant mesenchymal tumor. On completion of the procedure, double-lung ventilation could be established through the endotracheal tube in the trachea after the retraction of the video endobronchial tube.

Surgical repair of interrupted right-sided cervical aortic arch with hypoplasia of the descending thoracic aorta in a child with PHACE syndrome.

Obstruction of a right cervical aortic arch in association with hypoplasia of the descending aorta is a rare congenital cardiac malformation. We report the case of a 6-month-old boy with posterior fossa anomalies, hemangioma, arterial anomalies, cardiac anomalies and eye anomalies (PHACE) syndrome and interruption of a right-sided cervical aortic arch. The descending thoracic aorta in the child had a long hypoplastic segment and the patient also had small ventricular septal defect and pulmonary valve stenosis. The surgical technique of reconstruction of the aortic arch and the descending thoracic aorta through a median sternotomy is described.

Troubleshooting During Temporary Epicardial Lead Implantation in a Child with an Erosive Twiddler's Syndrome and Multiple Sternotomies: A case report.

Temporary epicardial cardiac pacing in patients with bradyarrhythmias may be used as a bridge to implantation of a permanent pacemaker. The temporary epicardial lead placement may sometimes necessitate a sternotomy that may pose a challenge in patients who have had multiple earlier sternotomies. The difficulty in accessing the epicardium for urgent implantation of temporary epicardial pacing leads depends on the extent of adhesions in such patients. We report an 8-year-8-month-old girl with a pacemaker with an extruded pulse generator and difficult myocardial access due to 5 prior transsternal procedures. The child presented to a tertiary care hospital in Muscat, Oman, in 2021. A trouble-shooting technique was adopted to achieve temporary epicardial pacing to provide time for a course of antibiotic therapy administration. A permanent transvenous pulse generator system was implanted after 7 days of temporary pacing.

Aortic root abscess and anomalous aortic origin of right coronary artery in a 5-year-old child.

BACKGROUND: Aortic root abscess is a rare complication of infective endocarditis in children. CASE REPORT: A 5-year-old boy with infective endocarditis of aortic valve and an anterior aortic root abscess was found to have anomalous aortic origin of right coronary artery from the left coronary sinus on computed tomography scan with contrast. RESULT: He was managed surgically by "patch and prosthesis" approach and required aortic root enlargement. Since anomalous aortic origin of right coronary artery is a relative contraindication for a Konno-Rastan aortic root enlargement, a Manouguian procedure was performed. CONCLUSION: Anterior aortic root abscesses are rare, the co-existence of anomalous aortic origin of right coronary artery is rarer still and such cases requiring aortic root enlargement are possibly best served by a Manouguian procedure.

Large aortopulmonary collateral artery exclusively supplying the lower lobe of left lung in an infant with common arterial trunk with aortic dominance with confluent pulmonary arteries.

INTRODUCTION: Common arterial trunk with aortic dominance has well-developed bilateral pulmonary arterial arborization without any essential major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (MAPCAs), whereas "solitary" arterial trunk is characterized by collateral arterial supply to all bronchopulmonary segments and absent pulmonary arteries. CASE REPORT: We report a term female neonate with common arterial trunk with aortic dominance with confluent pulmonary arteries with a large MAPCA as the sole blood supply to the lower lobe of the left lung. RESULTS: Initial diagnostic workup missed this MAPCA from the descending thoracic aorta. It was suspected during surgery due to massive left atrial return and confirmed by cardiac catheterization study in the early postoperative period and treated successfully by unifocalization. DISCUSSION: A large essential MAPCA supplying an entire lobe in the common arterial trunk with aortic dominance has not been described. It can present as heart failure and inability to wean off the ventilator in the early postoperative period following intracardiac repair. CONCLUSION: This is a case hitherto undescribed and possibly falling outside the well-entrenched classifications of the common arterial trunk and a large MAPCA could be an addition to the list of lesion modifiers. Our experience with this case underlines the importance of a thorough and open-minded approach to the initial imaging assessment of even well-described conditions.

Double outlet right atrium-A "bridge" across the bridging leaflets.

INTRODUCTION: Mal-alignment between the inter-atrial septum (IAS) and the inter-ventricular septum (IVS) during cardiac embryogenesis results in abnormal atrioventricular (AV) connections ranging from doubleoulet left atrium (DOLA) to double outlet right atrium (DORA)1. CASE REPORT: We report DORA resulting from partial override of the interatrial septum (IAS) across the cleft between the bridging leaflets of the left atrioventricular (AV) valve. RESULTS: Successful surgical management with preservation of the orifice is described, leading to an unusual type of double orifice left AV valve. DISCUSSION: The mal-alignment of the interatrial septum, resulting in it bridging the bridging leaflets, leads to an additional orifice between the RA and the LV and a unique form of right to left shunt. DORA can cause cyanosis depending on the size of the shunt and the compliance of the ventricles. Our patient was acyanotic, possibly due to the small size of the orifice and low LV compliance secondary to hypertrophy of the LV. CONCLUSION: our case adds to the spectrum of atrial septal mal-alignment variant of DORA in the setting of AVSD without atrial and ventricular components, with RA to LV communication occurring via the smaller orifice of a left atrioventricular valve divided by the abnormal insertion of a partially overriding, mal-aligned atrial septum; a mechanism not described previously - the 'bridge' across the bridging leaflets!

Real-time confirmation of tracheal decompression.

AIMS: The primary objective was to highlight the role of intraoperative bronchoscopic guidance during the management of central airway obstruction. MATERIALS & METHODS: A 6-month-old child presented with recurrent chest infections due to innominate artery compression of distal trachea. Aortopexy was performed under real-time bronchoscopic guidance. RESULTS: Intraoperative bronchoscopic guidance helped in confirm a successful release of the central airway obstruction. DISCUSSION: When operations similar to aortopexy are performed for release of airway obstructions, intraoperative bronchoscopic guidance is a valuable tool for confirming a successful outcome. CONCLUSION: The successful surgical management of central airway obstruction due to an innominate artery compression of the distal trachea under real-time bronchoscopic guidance in a 6-month-old child is described.

Group A Streptococcal Pericarditis in a Four-Month-Old Infant: Case report.

Purulent pericarditis is uncommon among paediatric patients and cases caused by group A Streptococcus (GAS) are even rarer. We report a four-month-old female infant who was referred to the Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman, in 2015 with pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade. She had initially presented to a secondary hospital with a two-week history of fever, a runny nose and shortness of breath. Blood and pericardial fluid cultures confirmed GAS isolates. The infant was treated with a two-week course of antibiotics and made a complete recovery with no echocardiographical evidence of pericardial effusion at a two-month follow-up. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this case constitutes the youngest infant to present with GAS pericarditis. As invasive GAS infections can present in infancy, early recognition and treatment is required.

Coarctation of the aorta, known yet can be missed.

The clinical presentation of coarctation of aorta (CoA) is well known; however, it is the most common congenital heart disease in the newborn period to be missed, with significant mortality and morbidity associated with missing the diagnosis. We report a 20-day-old newborn boy who presented with congestive heart failure and weak femoral pulses. Chest X-ray (CXR) showed cardiomegaly and pulmonary edema and electrocardiography (ECG) showed extreme right axis deviation and absent left ventricular forces in the left precordial leads. Based on these, clinical suspicion of coarctation of aorta was made and confirmed by echocardiography. After initial stabilization with prostaglandin E2 infusion, child underwent urgent coarctation of aorta repair with uneventful post-operative course. High index of suspicion for coarctation of aorta in a newborn with such presentation is required and urgent referral to Pediatric Cardiology and cardiac surgery center is mandatory to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with missing the diagnosis.

Novel anaesthetic approach for surgical access and haemodynamic management during off-pump coronary artery bypass through a left thoracotomy.

For myocardial revascularization on a beating heart through a thoracotomy, a properly deployed endobronchial blocker (EBB) provides ideal conditions for surgical access. In addition, adequate volume replacement to achieve optimal cardiac performance is a primary goal of haemodynamic management in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. To achieve both these ends, this case report describes the combined use of a left-sided EBB along with a volumetric pulmonary artery catheter in a patient who underwent a successful off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery through an anterolateral thoracotomy.

Preoperative exchange transfusion for sickle cell disease patients undergoing open-heart surgery: an exception to the rule.

Preoperative exchange transfusion is a routine practice in patients with sickle cell disease having elevated sickle cell hemoglobin levels (>40%) undergoing open-heart surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass. A new approach toward acceptance and management of sickle cell disease patients with high sickle cell hemoglobin levels for open-heart surgery without preoperative exchange transfusion of blood is presented.

Arterial switch operation: troponin T does not predict ventilation requirements.

The aim of this study was to assess whether postoperative cardiac troponin T levels could predict ventilation requirements in infants undergoing the arterial switch operation. Cardiac troponin T was measured 6 hours after aortic cross clamping and prior to tracheal extubation in 20 consecutive patients; 10 had simple and 10 had complex (with ventricular septal defect) transposition of the great arteries. The mean plasma troponin T level prior to extubation did not differ significantly in patients who were re-intubated and those who were successfully extubated. The initial cardiac troponin T levels in the complex defect group was significantly higher than in the simple transposition group. There was no correlation between initial cardiac troponin T levels and the duration of mechanical ventilation. There was no difference in mean duration of ventilation between the 2 groups. It was concluded that the postoperative cardiac troponin T level is not a predictor of successful extubation or prolonged artificial ventilation in this subset.

Selection of monitoring site and outcome after neonatal coarctation repair.

To assess whether simultaneous invasive arterial pressure monitoring of right upper and lower limbs in neonatal aortic coarctation with or without arch hypoplasia has an impact on surgical decision-making and outcome, data of 140 newborns who underwent emergency surgical repair over 15 years were analyzed retrospectively. The 36 who had simultaneous right arm and lower limb arterial pressure monitored intraoperatively were assigned to group 1. The other 104 who had blood pressure monitored invasively at a single site (either upper or lower limb) were allocated to group 2. In group 1, a residual gradient across the repaired segment was detected intraoperatively in 13% of patients, and corrected at the same sitting. In group 2, 6% needed subsequent balloon angioplasty. In all babies with arch hypoplasia in group 1, the proximal aortic cross clamp was readjusted at least once to avoid compromise of carotid blood flow. Simultaneous right upper and lower limb invasive pressure monitoring has an impact on the overall outcome in these sick neonates.

Myocardial protection during neonatal cardiac surgery.

Myocardial protection is of major concern in neonatal cardiac surgery where coronary ostial transfer is required as part of the surgical procedure. Retrograde coronary sinus perfusion (RCSP) of cold cardioplegic solution was evaluated in infants undergoing arterial switch operations. Hemodynamic measurements and postoperative cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels were estimated in addition to transthoracic echocardiography to assess the extent of myocardial injury. The results were compared with a similar cohort of patients where ante grade selective coronary artery perfusion (ASCP) was used during coronary ostial transfer. Our experience suggests that RCSP is a useful option in this subset of patients.