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Background: The aim of this study was to determine if there is any correlation between patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) dimensions measured by two dimensional echocardiography (2DE) and three dimensional echocardiography (3DE) in comparison with angiographic data as the gold standard technique. Such correlation may help us to immediately detect ductal spasm and select the proper device according to echocardiographic assessments. Methods: In this comparative study, we successively selected 26 pediatric patients with isolated PDA, who referred for elective percutaneous PDA closure at Nemazee Hospital, affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) since January 2016 till March 2017. All patients underwent full 2DE and 3DE before device closure at the day of angiography (less than 5 hours before catheterization). We emphasized the dimension of pulmonic and aortic end diameter and length of PDA by these modalities and comparison of our data. Results: The study population had a mean age of 28.7 months and a mean weight of 10.67 Kg; the majority of our patients were female (84.6%). The difference in pulmonic end of PDA was not significant statistically by all modalities. The difference in aortic end of PDA was significant and there was no correlation between 2DE and 3DE with angiographic data. Comparison of data obtained from 2DE and 3DE revealed that the length of PDA in 2DE, 3DE angiography well correlated with each other. One case developed ductal spasm during angiography. Conclusions: The ductus pulmonic end and length dimensions measured by echocardiography and angiography well correlated with each other and were interchangeable. Such findings may be helpful during percutaneous transcatheter occlusion if any ductal spasm happens. Thus, we may recommend the use of a suitable device according to the maximum size of PDA that was measured either by echocardiography or angiographic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Visual defects have dramatic effects on health, self-esteem, and educational function of students, and delayed diagnosis will cause complications, like academic failure and psychologic disorders. Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of ocular disorders in Iranian students in a systematic review. Methods: We searched databases, including PubMed, SID, Magiran, Google Scholar, and Iranmedex using the following keywords in Persian and English: disorders, vision, amblyopia, refractive errors, astigmatism, student, and Iran with all the possible combinations, important, chief, and sensitive words. Search resulted in 28 articles, conducted during a period from 1996 to 2014 in Iran and their data was analyzed using meta-analysis and random effects model. Heterogeneity of studies was assessed using I2 index, and data was finally analyzed with R Software and STATA (Version 11.2). Results: Total number of subjects in the study was 1,117,274, aged 2 to 18 years. The prevalence of disorders related to amblyopia, refractive error, and strabismus was 8%, 7% and 1%, respectively. The greatest amount of refractive error was related to astigmatism (19%) followed by myopia (17%). Conclusion: According to the study results, the prevalence of visual disorders among Iranian students indicated the critical necessity of screening programs for prevention of visual disorders in this age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is the most frequent cause of coronary artery aneurysm (CAA) in children. This study tried to evaluate the accuracy of different KD scores developed for prediction of CAA, in an Iranian population. Methods: This is a cross-sectional retrospective investigation on pediatric patients with a diagnosis of KD. Clinical manifestations, laboratory, and echocardiographic data were recorded. Five Kawasaki scores, including Kobayashi, Egami, Sano, Nakano, and Harada, were assessed and analyzed in relation to CAA and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) resistance. Results: During five years, we recruited 121 cases of KD under 13 years of age. The rates of CAA and IVIG resistance were 16.5%, and 13.2% respectively. The IVIG resistance group was significantly younger than responder patients. All five scores had low sensitivity in predicting CAA or IVIG resistant cases; the highest sensitivity pertained to the Harada score with 50% sensitivity and 59% specificity (the area under the curve: 0.545, with a 95% confidence interval: 0.423 to 0.667) in predicting CAA, which is lower than the usual acceptable criteria for a screening test. The specificity of all other scores were more than 85% in predicting CAA or IVIG resistance. Gender, fever before therapy and laboratory data showed no significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: The Kobayashi, Egami, Sano, Nakano and Harada scores have limited usefulness in the Iranian population to predict high risk patients for coronary artery involvement or IVIG resistance; in our study, age under one year was a risk factor for IVIG resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Transcatheter closure of intracardiac defects might be complicated by intravascular hemolysis. We evaluated hemolysis and its outcome after transcatheter closure of these defects., Methods and Patients: All patients who underwent transcatheter closure of patent ductus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect and atrial septal defect were included in this prospective study. Clinical data were obtained before and after the catheterization., Results: One hundred and thirty-eight patients were enrolled; and four (3%) patients developed intravascular hemolysis; while two cases had residual shunt and two other cases had not residual flow. Although residual shunt occurred in ten patients, only 2 of these cases developed hemolysis. Patent ductus arteriosus closure was done for one of these cases and the other one, underwent perimembranous ventricular septal defect closure. Moreover, hemolysis occurred after device closure of patent ductus arteriosus in 2 of the other patients with no residual shunt. In this study the hemolysis was eliminated by conservative management within 2 weeks although residual shunt continued in this time. We observed a decline in lactate dehydrogenase value after catheterization in comparison with precatheterization, which was mainly among ventricular septal defect patients that might be due to mild chronic hemolysis in these patients., Conclusion: Incidence of hemolysis after device closure was low, and occurred with and without residual flow and was eliminated by conservative management in 2 weeks, without the need for surgery, although the residual shunt was continued.