Surgical valvotomy and repair for neonatal and infant congenital aortic stenosis achieves better results than interventional catheterization.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to compare outcomes after surgical valvuloplasty and balloon dilation of the aortic valve in neonates and infants. BACKGROUND: Surgical techniques of aortic valve repair have improved and there is today controversy on the best approach to treat neonatal congenital aortic valve stenosis. METHODS: Retrospective review of data and follow-up of 123 consecutive neonates and infants (35 females, 88 males) undergoing intervention for congenital aortic stenosis. RESULTS: From 1977 to 2009, 123 consecutive neonates (<30 days) and infants (31 days to 1 year) underwent relief of congenital aortic stenosis. Median age at procedure was 27 days (6 to 76 days). Twenty-year survival was 80 ± 7%. Fifty-four patients required a re-intervention and freedom from re-intervention was 55 ± 6% at 10 years and 40 ± 6% at 20 years. By multivariate analysis, having the relief of stenosis by balloon valvuloplasty and undergoing initial treatment as a neonate were predictive of re-intervention. Freedom from re-intervention at 5 years was 27% after balloon valvuloplasty versus 65% after surgery. At latest follow-up, an additional 16 patients had moderate or severe stenosis and 8 had regurgitation. Freedom from re-intervention or stenosis was 39 ± 5% at 15 years. By multivariate analysis, balloon valvuloplasty (p < 0.001) and treatment as a neonate (p = 0.003) were again predictive of stenosis or re-intervention. Thirty-five patients ultimately needed a valve replacement. Significant predictor of the requirement of valve replacement was unicuspid aortic valve (p < 0.001). Freedom from valve replacement was 55 ± 7% at 20 years. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical valvuloplasty remains the best approach to treat neonates and infants with congenital aortic stenosis. After surgery, a higher proportion of patients remain free of re-intervention than after interventional catheterization and the relief of their stenosis lasts longer.

Barth syndrome: an X-linked cause of fetal cardiomyopathy and stillbirth.

OBJECTIVE: Barth Syndrome (BTHS) is an X-linked multisystem disorder (OMIM 302060) usually diagnosed in infancy and characterized by cardiac problems [dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) ± endocardial fibroelastosis (EFE) ± left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC)], proximal myopathy, feeding problems, growth retardation, neutropenia, organic aciduria and variable respiratory chain abnormalities. We wished to determine whether BTHS had a significant impact on fetal and perinatal health in a large cohort of family groups originating from a defined region. METHOD: Case note review on 19 families originating from the UK and known to the Barth Syndrome Service of the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. RESULTS: Details are presented on six kindreds (32%) with genetically and biochemically proven BTHS that demonstrate a wider phenotype including male fetal loss, stillbirth and severe neonatal illness or death. In these families, 9 males were stillborn and 14 died as neonates or infants but there were no losses of females. BTHS was definitively proven in five males with fetal onset of DCM ± hydrops/EFE/LVNC. CONCLUSION: These findings stress the importance of considering BTHS in the differential diagnosis of unexplained male hydrops, DCM, EFE, LVNC or pregnancy loss, as well as in neonates with hypoglycemia, lactic acidosis and idiopathic mitochondrial disease.

Changing concepts of endocardial fibroelastosis.

Endocardial fibroelastosis is not a disease but a reaction of the endocardium. I review the history of the term with emphasis on the gradual understanding of the many causes of this reaction. I include a comprehensive list of diseases or other cardiac stresses that authors have reported in association, and I try to explain the mechanism of the reaction. Although endocardial fibroelastosis is rare today, I issue a warning of a possible epidemic recrudescence of some of the associated diseases. My hope is for nosologic purity, therefore that outworn but surviving concepts will be firmly rejected.

Papillary fibroelastomas: innocent bystanders or ignored culprits?

Cardiac papillary fibroelastomas (PFEs) are the most common tumors of the cardiac valves and the third most common cardiac tumor. They are usually detected accidentally on echocardiography, but have the potential to manifest with catastrophic embolic phenomena, resulting in stroke and myocardial infarction. Echocardiography is currently the preferred diagnostic modality, while magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography are helpful in the differential diagnosis of cardiac tumors. The management of PFEs is empiric, as no large randomized trials have been conducted to support specific treatment guidelines. The treatment of choice for PFEs with high-risk features for peripheral embolization is surgical resection. Anticoagulation is recommended in patients who are poor surgical candidates or who refuse surgery, although its duration and intensity are debatable. This review summarizes current knowledge on the epidemiology, pathology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment of PFEs. It also highlights the need for large randomized clinical trials that would delineate more specific guidelines for managing PFEs with anticoagulation.

Establecimiento del virus de la parotiditis epidémica como agente etiológico de la fibroelastosis endocárdica / Establishment of the epidemic mumps virus as etiologic agent endocardial fibroelastosis

La fibroelastosis endocárdica primaria es una miocardiopatía primaria caracterizada por dilatación e hipertrofia del ventrículo izquierdo, debido a un engrosamiento difuso del endocardio producido por la proliferación del tejido fibroso y elástico, que disminuye la flexibilidad ventricular y conduce a una marcada disfunción diastólica y sistólica del ventrículo izquierdo. Es fundamentalmente, una enfermedad del lactante menor, junto con las miocarditis activas, la fibroelastosis endocárdica constituye la inmensa mayoría de las cardiopatías del lactente y el niño pequeño. El diagnóstico diferencial entre ambas entidades es importante, pues las miocarditis activas responden al tratamiento inmunosupresor, el cual no está indicado en la fibroelastosis endocárdica. El ecocardiograma permite reconocer el endocardio engrosado e hiperrefringente, característico de esta enfermedad. Su etiología ha sido motivo de controversia, Frühling, en 1962, describió casos de fibroelastosis endocárdica durante una epidemia causada por el virus Coxsackie B. En el intervalo de 1963 y 1964, Norem, Adams y Anderson, por un lado y Shone, Muñoz Armas, Manning y Keith, por el otro, sugirieron un papel preponderante del virus de la parotiditis epidémica en su etiología, al encontrar reacción positiva a la prueba intradérmica con el antígeno de ese virus en más del 90 por ciento de casos estudiados. Nuestro estudio, con el mayor número de casos demostrados (50 pacientes), encontró negatividad de la prueba en 180 de 202 casos del grupo control (89 por ciento). En cambio, Gersony y Col, en un estudio publicado simultáneamente con el nuestro en la revista Pediatrics, en un grupo de sólo 16 pacientes con fibroelastosis endocárdica, excluyeron el virus de la parotiditis epidémica como agente etiológico. Este criterio había prevalecido hasta 1997, cuando Jiyuan Ni y Col; en la revista Circulation de enero de 1997, mediante una de las más avanzadas técnicas de la virología molecular, la reacción...

Retrospective study of congenital heart defects in 151 dogs.

The case records of 151 dogs diagnosed with congenital heart disease were reviewed retrospectively. The most common defect was aortic stenosis, accounting for 35 per cent of all cases, followed by pulmonic stenosis (20 per cent), ventricular septal defect (12 per cent), patent ductus arteriosus (11 per cent), mitral valve dysplasia (8 per cent), tricuspid valve dysplasia (7 per cent), endocardial fibroelastosis (1.9 per cent) and tetralogy of Fallot (0.6 per cent). Fifty-one breeds were represented, with golden retrievers, German shepherd dogs and boxers predominating. No overall sex predilection was obvious. Seventy-five per cent of the dogs were asymptomatic at presentation. The defects most often associated with presenting symptoms, such as dyspnoea, syncope, ascites, failure to grow and depression, were mitral valve dysplasia, atrial septal defect, tricuspid valve dysplasia and endocardial fibroelastosis. The latter presented with the most severe signs of heart failure. In some cases of aortic stenosis and pulmonic stenosis, where the defect could not be accurately visualised with two-dimensional echocardiography, Doppler echocardiographic examination was needed for definitive diagnosis.

[Endocardial fibrosis in neuroendocrine tumors of the gastroenteropancreatic system]. / Endokardfibrose bei neuroendokrinen Tumoren des gastroenteropankreatischen Systems.

Clinical characteristics, echocardiographic and Doppler echocardiographic findings, as well as serum levels of chromogranin A were recorded on 62 patients (27 women, 35 men; mean age 55 [11-83] years) with histologically confirmed tumours of the gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) system. Changes in the right heart were found in 14 patients (22%), club-like thickening of tricuspid leaflets in 13, tricuspid regurgitation in 14, stenosis in 2 and right atrial or right ventricular dilatation in 11 and 5, respectively. There was no difference between the patients with or without right-heart changes in regard to age, presence of carcinoid syndrome, duration of symptoms, primary tumour site, pattern of metastases, treatment or chromogranin A level. Two patients with nonfunctioning tumours had right-heart changes. While clinical and biochemical parameters did not identify patients with right-heart changes, echocardiography demonstrated all haemodynamically significant endocardial changes. Even patients with nonfunctioning GEP tumours should be regularly monitored by echocardiography.

Birth prevalence of congenital cardiovascular malformations in Hungary.

In a certain area of Szolnok county, 5,978 live births occurring in the period 1963-1965 were studied by the optimal epidemiological model. Of the study population, 5,433 children (91%), were identified. It was completed by 211 children, thus the total material involved 5,644 cases, and 67 congenital cardiovascular malformations were detected among them. Seven, being part of multiple congenital abnormalities, were excluded. Thus the birth prevalence of congenital cardiovascular malformations was 10.6 per 1000 live births.