Diastolic heart failure may be noted in paediatric patients with CHD, cardiomyopathy, or malignancies requiring chemotherapy, but the available data are scarce, and often derived from adult trials or based on theoretic or anecdotal evidence.

Data between 2016 and 2021 were obtained from Pediatric Health Information System database. Patients <18 years of age with isolated diastolic heart failure admitted to ICU at some point during admission were included. They were divided into patients with and without inpatient mortality. Patients’ demographics, comorbidities using ICD-10 codes, and pharmacologic interventions were also recorded. Univariate analysis was done in demographics, comorbidities, pharmacologic interventions, and mechanical interventions between admissions with and without mortality. Multivariable logistic regression was done for inpatient mortality and multivariable linear regression was done for total hospital length of stay in survivors.

Isolated diastolic heart failure comprised 0.5% of critically ill paediatric patients. A total of 121 (5%) experienced mortality among the 2,273 admissions in the final analyses. Milrinone and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor were found to be associated with decreased mortality. Increasing age and diuretics were associated with decreased total hospital length of stay in survivors.

In the cohort studied, isolated diastolic left heart failure has a 5% mortality. Several comorbidities and interventions are associated with increased mortality with milrinone and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors being associated with decreased risk of mortality. When only admissions with survival to discharge are considered, older age and diuretics are associated with lower total hospital length of stay.

Cardiac intensive care providers require a comprehensive understanding of cardiac output and oxygen delivery. The estimation of cardiac output in clinical practice often relies on thermodilution and the Fick principle. Central venous saturation and lactate levels are commonly used indicators for cardiac output assessment. However, the relationship between venous lactate levels and venous oxygen saturation in paediatric cardiac intensive care patients remains unclear.

This is a single-centre retrospective pilot study aimed to investigate the correlation between venous lactate and venous oxygen saturation in paediatric patients. Data collected included venous saturation, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, arterial saturation by pulse oximetry, cerebral and renal near-infra-red spectroscopy values, and the presence of a functionally univentricular heart. Statistical analyses included Bayesian Pearson correlation and regression analyses.

A total of 203 data points from 37 unique patients were included in the analysis. There was no significant correlation between serum lactate and venous saturation (correlation coefficient = –0.01; Bayes factor 10 = 0.06). Serum lactate also did not correlate with other haemodynamic metrics. Venous saturation showed correlations with arterial saturation and cerebral and renal near-infra-red spectroscopy. Regression analysis revealed that parallel circulation, arterial saturation, and cerebral near-infra-red spectroscopy were predictive of venous saturation. The following equation resulted from the regression analysis: 68.0 – (12.7 x parallel circulation) – (0.8 x arterial saturation) + (0.3 x cerebral near-infra-red spectroscopy). This model had a Bayes factor 10 of 0.03 and adjusted R-squared was 0.29.

In paediatric cardiac intensive care patients, there is no significant correlation between venous lactate and venous saturation, suggesting that lactate may not be a reliable marker for assessing the adequacy of oxygen delivery in this population. Only a weak correlation could be identified once the venous saturation was 70% or lower. Additional research is needed to explore alternative markers for monitoring oxygen delivery in critically ill paediatric patients.

Maintaining the adequacy of systemic oxygen delivery is of utmost importance, particularly in critically ill children. Renal oxygen extraction can be utilised as metric of the balance between systemic oxygen delivery and oxygen consumption. The primary aim of this study was to determine what clinical factors are associated with renal oxygen extraction in children after Norwood procedure.

Mechanically ventilated children who underwent Norwood procedure from 1 September, 2022 to 1 March, 2023 were identified as these patients had data collected and stored with high fidelity by the T3 software. Data regarding haemodynamic values, fluid balance, and airway pressure were collected and analysed using Bayesian regression to determine the association of the individual metrics with renal oxygen extraction.

A total of 27,270 datapoints were included in the final analyses. The resulting top two models explained had nearly 80% probability of being true and explained over 90% of the variance in renal oxygen extraction. The coefficients for each variable retained in the best were −1.70 for milrinone, −19.05 for epinephrine, 0.129 for mean airway pressure, −0.063 for mean arterial pressure, 0.111 for central venous pressure, 0.093 for arterial saturation, 0.006 for heart rate, −0.025 for respiratory rate, 0.366 for systemic vascular resistance, and −0.032 for systemic blood flow.

Increased milrinone, epinephrine, mean arterial pressure, and systemic blood flow were associated with decreased (improved) renal oxygen extraction, while increased mean airway pressure, central venous pressure, arterial saturation, and systemic vascular resistance were associated with increased (worsened) renal oxygen extraction.

Acute kidney injury is a common postoperative complication of paediatric cardiac surgery associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study is to characterise associations between haemodynamic parameters, clinical parameters, and medical interventions, on acute kidney injury.

Nine patients with univentricular physiology undergoing the Norwood procedure from a single-centre tertiary care paediatric cardiac ICU were included (September 2022 to March 2023). Patients were monitored with the T3 software. Data were analysed using a Fisher exact test, Mann–Whitney-U test, LASSO-based machine learning techniques, and receiver operator curve analyses.

Over 27,000 datapoints were included. Acute kidney injury occurred in 2 patients (22%) during this period. Net fluid balance and renal oxygen extraction were independently associated with acute kidney injury, while commonly used metrics of pressure (systolic, diastolic, or mean arterial blood pressure) were not. The resulting acute kidney injury risk score was (4.1 × fluid balance) + (1.9 × renal oxygen extraction). The risk score was significantly higher in acute kidney injury with a score of 32.9 compared to 7.9 (p < 0.01). Optimal cut-offs for fluid balance (7 mL/hr) and renal oxygen extraction (29%) were identified. Higher serum creatinine:baseline creatinine ratio was associated with a higher mean airway pressure, higher renal oxygen extraction, higher mean arterial blood pressure, higher vasoactive inotropic score, and fluid balance.

Among patients with univentricular physiology undergoing the Norwood procedure, renal oxygen extraction and a higher net fluid balance are independently associated with increased risk of acute kidney injury. Renal perfusion pressure is not significantly associated with acute kidney injury.

Monitoring venous saturation allows identification of inadequate systemic oxygen delivery. The aim was to develop a model using non-invasive haemodynamic variables to estimate the inferior caval vein saturation and to determine its prognostic utility.

This is a single-centre, retrospective study. A Bayesian Pearson’s correlation was conducted to model the inferior caval vein saturation. Next, a Bayesian linear regression was conducted for data from all the patients and from only those with parallel circulation. Venous saturation estimations were developed. The correlation of these estimates to the actual inferior caval vein saturation was assessed. The resulting models were then applied to two validation cohorts: biventricular circulation (arterial switch operation) and parallel circulation (Norwood operation).

One hundred and thirteen datasets were collected across 15 patients. Of which, 65% had parallel circulation. In all patients, the measured and estimated inferior caval vein saturations had a moderate and significant correlation with a coefficient of 0.64. In patients with parallel circulation, the measured and estimated inferior caval vein saturation had a moderate and significant correlation with a coefficient of 0.61. In the biventricular circulation cohort, the estimated inferior caval vein saturation had an area under the curve of 0.71 with an optimal cut-off of 49. In the parallel circulation cohort, the estimated interior caval vein saturation had an area under the curve of 0.83 with an optimal cut-off of 24%.

The inferior caval vein saturation can be estimated utilising non-invasive haemodynamic data. This estimate has correlation with measured inferior caval vein saturations and offers prognostic utility.

Catheterisation is the gold standard used to evaluate pulmonary blood flow in patients with a Blalock–Thomas–Taussig shunt. It involves risk and cannot be performed frequently. This study aimed to evaluate if echocardiographic measurements obtained in a clinical setting correlate with catheterisation-derived pulmonary blood flow in patients with a Blalock–Thomas–Taussig shunt as the sole source of pulmonary blood flow.

Chart review was performed retrospectively on consecutive patients referred to the catheterisation lab with a Blalock–Thomas–Taussig shunt. Echocardiographic parameters included peak, mean, and diastolic gradients across the Blalock–Thomas–Taussig shunt and forward and reverse velocity time integral across the distal transverse aorta. In addition to direct correlations, we tested a previously published formula for pulmonary blood flow calculated as velocity time integral across the shunt × heart rate × Blalock–Thomas–Taussig shunt area. Catheterisation parameters included pulmonary and systemic blood flow as calculated by the Fick principle.

18 patients were included. The echocardiography parameters and oxygen saturation did not correlate with catheterisation-derived pulmonary blood flow, systemic blood flow, or the ratio of pulmonary to systemic blood flow. As the ratio of reverse to forward velocity time integral across the transverse aorta increased, the probability of shunt stenosis decreased.

Echocardiographic measurements obtained outside the catheterisation lab do not correlate with catheterisation-derived pulmonary blood flow. The ratio of reverse to forward velocity time integral across the transverse aortic arch may be predictive of Blalock–Thomas–Taussig shunt narrowing; this finding should be investigated further.

There is variation in care and hospital length of stay following surgical repair of ventricular septal defects. The use of clinical pathways in a variety of paediatric care settings has been shown to reduce practice variability and overall length of stay without increasing the rate of adverse events.

A clinical pathway was created and used to guide care following surgical repair of ventricular septal defects. A retrospective review was done to compare patients two years prior and three years after the pathway was implemented.

There were 23 pre-pathway patients and 25 pathway patients. Demographic characteristics were similar between groups. Univariate analysis demonstrated a significantly shorter time to initiation of enteral intake in the pathway patients (median time to first enteral intake after cardiac ICU admission was 360 minutes in pre-pathway patients and 180 minutes in pathway patients, p < 0.01). Multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that the pathway use was independently associated with a decrease in time to first enteral intake (–203 minutes), hospital length of stay (–23.1 hours), and cardiac ICU length of stay (–20.5 hours). No adverse events were associated with the use of the pathway, including mortality, reintubation rate, acute kidney injury, increased bleeding from chest tube, or readmissions.

The use of the clinical pathway improved time to initiation of enteral intake and decreased length of hospital stay. Surgery-specific pathways may decrease variability in care while also improving quality metrics.

Kawasaki disease is a vasculitis that can lead to cardiac complications, including coronary artery disease and cardiogenic shock. Various scoring systems have been developed to determine those that will be refractory to routine intravenous immunoglobulin therapy or develop coronary artery disease. The objective of this study was to determine if the neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio could predict refractory disease and coronary artery lesions in patients with Kawasaki disease.

A systematic review of the literature was performed to identify manuscripts describing comparisons of neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio between those who had refractory disease and those who did not, and between those who developed coronary artery lesions and those who did not. Mean difference was compared between groups. Areas under the curve were utilised to determine the pooled area under the curve.

12 studies with 5593 patients were included in the final analyses of neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio for the prediction of refractory disease. Neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio before therapy was higher in refractory disease with a mean difference of 2.55 (p < 0.01) and pooled area under the curve of 0.724. Neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio after therapy was higher in refractory disease with a mean difference of 1.42 (p < 0.01) and pooled area under the curve for of 0.803. Five studies with 1690 patients were included in the final analyses of neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio for the prediction of coronary artery lesions. Neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio before therapy was higher in coronary artery lesions with a mean difference of 0.65 (p < 0.01).

The use of neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio may help physicians in the identification of patients at risk of refractory disease and coronary artery lesions in patients with Kawasaki disease.

There are a variety of approaches to biventricular repair in neonates and infants with adequately sized ventricles and left-sided obstruction in the presence of a ventricular septal defect. Those who undergo this in a staged manner initially undergo a Norwood procedure followed by a ventricular septal defect closure such that the neo-aorta is entirely committed to the left ventricle and placement of a right ventricular to pulmonary artery conduit (Yasui operation). This study aimed to determine clinical and haemodynamic factors upon paediatric cardiac ICU admission immediately after the two-stage Yasui operation that was associated with post-operative length of stay.

This was a retrospective review of patients who underwent the Yasui procedure after the initial Norwood operation between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2020. Patients with complete data on admission were identified and analysed using Bayesian regression analysis.

A total of 15 patients were included. The median age was 9.0 months and post-operative length of stay was 6days. Bayesian regression analysis demonstrated that age, weight, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, central venous pressure, pulse oximetry, cerebral near infrared spectroscopy, renal near infrared spectroscopy, pH, pCO2, ionised calcium, and serum lactate were all associated with post-operative length of stay.

Discrete clinical and haemodynamic factors upon paediatric cardiac ICU admission after staged Yasui completion are associated with post-operative length of stay. Clinical target ranges can be developed and seem consistent with the notion that greater systemic oxygen delivery is associated with lower post-operative length of stay.

Transcatheter stenting of the arterial duct is an alternative to surgical systemic to pulmonary artery shunt in neonates with parallel circulation. The current study compares haemodynamic and laboratory values in these patients for the first 48 hours after either intervention.

Neonates with ductal dependent pulmonary blood flow who underwent surgical shunt placement or catheter-based arterial ductal stent placement between January 2013 and January 2022 were identified. Haemodynamic variables included heart rate, blood pressure, near infrared spectroscopy, central venous pressure, vasoactive inotropic score, and arterial saturation. Laboratory variables collected included blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, and serum lactate. Variables were collected at baseline, upon post-procedural admission, 6 hours after admission, 12 hours after admission, and 48 hours after admission. Secondary outcomes included post-procedural mechanical ventilation duration, post-procedural hospital length of stay, need for reintervention, need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, cardiac arrest, and inpatient mortality.

Of the 52 patients included, 38 (73%) underwent shunt placement while 14 (27%) underwent a stent placement. Heart rates, renal oxygen extraction ratio, and cerebral oxygen extraction ratio were significantly lower in the stent group (p = <0.01, 0.01, and < 0.01, respectively).

Haemoglobin and vasoactive inotropic scores were significantly lower in the stent group (p = <0.01, <0.01, respectively). The stent group had increased risk for cardiac arrest (p = 0.04).

Patients who undergo arterial ductal stent placement have lower heart rates, haemoglobin, renal oxygen extraction ratio, cerebral oxygen extraction ratio, and vasoactive inotropic score in the first 48 hours post-procedure compared to patients with shunt placement.

The primary objective of this study was to determine whether Altmetric score, number of reads, and citations for paediatric cardiology manuscripts correlate with one another. A secondary objective was to determine the extent to which factors mediated citation number for paediatric cardiology manuscripts.

Data for this study came from manuscripts published in Cardiology in the Young (2010–2021). Data were extracted by using data shared on the journal website. Spearman’s correlation analyses were conducted between manuscript reads, citations, and Altmetric score. Regression analyses were conducted with number of citations as the dependent variable and year of publication, publication type, number of reads, and Altmetric score as independent variables.

A total of 2642 manuscripts were included in the final analyses. Reads and citations had poor correlation (r-value 0.32); reads and Altmetric score had negligible correlation (r-value 0.26); and Altmetric score and citations had negligible correlation (r-value 0.07). Year of publication was independently associated with number of citations (β –0.95, p-value <0.01). Manuscript type was independently associated with number of citations (β 1.04, p-value <0.01). Number of reads was independently associated with citations (β 0.01, p-value <0.01). Altmetric score was independently associated with number of citations (β 0.05, p-value <0.01).

This study describes the correlation of reads, citations, and Altmetric score in manuscripts published in Cardiology in the Young, demonstrating poor correlation, at best, between these metrics. Each bibliometric index seems to represent a different phenomenon of manuscript consumption. No single bibliometric index in isolation offers ample representation of manuscript consumption.

Paediatric residents are often taught cardiac anatomy with two-dimensional images of heart specimens, or via imaging such as echocardiography or computed tomography. This study aimed to determine if the use of a structured, interactive, teaching session using heart specimens with CHD would be effective in teaching the concepts of cardiac anatomy.

The interest amongst paediatric residents of a cardiac anatomy session using heart specimens was assessed initially by circulating a survey. Next, four major cardiac lesions were identified to be of interest: atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, tetralogy of Fallot, and transposition. A list of key structures and anatomic concepts for these lesions was developed, and appropriate specimens demonstrating these features were identified by a cardiac morphologist. A structured, interactive, teaching session was then held with the paediatric residents using the cardiac specimens. The same 10-question assessment was administered at the beginning and end of the session.

The initial survey demonstrated that all the paediatric residents had an interest in a cardiac anatomy teaching session. A total of 24 participated in the 2-hour session. The median pre-test score was 45%, compared to a median post-test score of 90% (p < 0.01). All paediatric residents who completed a post-session survey indicated that the session was a good use of educational time and contributed to increasing their knowledge base. They expressed great interest in future sessions.

A 2-hour hands-on cardiac anatomy teaching session using cardiac specimens can successfully highlight key anatomic concepts for paediatric residents.

The effects of alpha-blockade on haemodynamics during and following congenital heart surgery are well documented, but data on patient outcomes, mortality, and hospital charges are limited. The purpose of this study was to characterise the use of alpha-blockade during congenital heart surgery admissions and to determine its association with common clinical outcomes.

A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Pediatric Health Information System database. De-identified data for patients under 18 years of age with a cardiac diagnosis who underwent congenital heart surgery were obtained from 2004 to 2015. Patients were subdivided on the basis of receiving alpha-blockade with either phenoxybenzamine or phentolamine during admission or not. Continuous and categorical variables were analysed using Mann−Whitney U-tests and Fisher exact tests, respectively. Characteristics between subgroups were compared using univariate analysis. Regression analyses were conducted to determine the impact of alpha-blockade on ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, billed charges, and mortality.

Of the 81,313 admissions, 4309 (5.3%) utilised alpha-blockade. Phentolamine was utilised in 4290 admissions. In univariate analysis, ICU length of stay, total length of stay, inpatient mortality, and billed charges were all significantly higher in the alpha-blockade admissions. However, regression analyses demonstrated that other factors were behind these increased. Alpha-blockade was significantly, independently associated with a 1.5 days reduction in ICU length of stay (p < 0.01) and a 3.5 days reduction in total length of stay (p < 0.01). Alpha-blockade was significantly, independently associated with a reduction in mortality (odds ratio 0.8, 95% confidence interval 0.7−0.9). Alpha-blockade was not independently associated with any significant change in billed charges.

Alpha-blockade is used in a subset of paediatric cardiac surgeries and is independently associated with significant reductions in ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, and mortality without significantly altering billed charges.