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Tetralogy of Fallot is the most common cyanotic congenital heart disease. For decades, our institution has cared for humanitarian patients with late presentation of tetralogy of Fallot. They are characterized by severe right ventricular hypertrophy with consecutive diastolic dysfunction, increasing the risk of postoperative low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS). By right ventricular restrictive physiology, we hypothesized that patients receiving early postoperative beta-blockers (within 48 h after cardiopulmonary bypass) may have better diastolic function and cardiac output. This is a retrospective cohort study in a single-center tertiary pediatric intensive care unit. We included > 1-year-old humanitarian patients with a confirmed diagnosis of tetralogy of Fallot undergoing a complete surgical repair between 2005 and 2019. We measured demographic data, preoperative echocardiographic and cardiac catheterization measures, postoperative mean heart rate, vasoactive-inotropic scores, LCOS scores, length of stay, and mechanical ventilation duration. One hundred sixty-five patients met the inclusion criteria. Fifty-nine patients (36%) received early postoperative beta-blockers, associated with a lower mean heart rate, higher vasoactive-inotropic scores, and lower LCOS scores during the first 48 h following cardiopulmonary bypass. There was no significant difference in lengths of stay and ventilation. Conclusion: Early postoperative beta-blockers lower the prevalence of postoperative LCOS at the expense of a higher need for vasoactive drugs without any consequence on length of stay and ventilation duration. This approach may benefit the specific population of children undergoing a late complete repair of tetralogy of Fallot. What is Known: • Prevalence of low cardiac output syndrome is high following a late complete surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot. What is New: • Early postoperative beta-blockade is associated with lower heart rate, prolonged relaxation time, and lower prevalence of low cardiac output syndrome. • Negative chronotropic agents like beta-blockers may benefit selected patients undergoing a late complete repair of tetralogy of Fallot, who are numerous in low-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To determine the variation in indexed stroke volume (LVSVi) in children with varying left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) using cardiac magnetic imaging (CMR) and its correlation with various cardiac factors. METHODS: This observational comparative study was conducted at The Children’s Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan from December 2018 to November 2021. All children below 18 years’ age presenting to hospital for CMR for tissue characterization, having normal vital organs function and no clinical signs of heart failure were included in the study. Relevant clinical data was recorded. CMR was performed using 1.5T Philips Ingenia MRI scanner. The data were analyzed with varying LVEF and correlation of LVSVi with various cardiac factors including indexed left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDVi), cardiac output (CO) and heart rate (HR). RESULTS: Out of 175 patients, 170 children up to 18 years old completed the test with mean age 14.3±3.3 years. Mean LVSVi was 42+12 ml/m2 which followed Frank Starling curve except in children with LVEF

Introduction: Acyanotic congenital heart disease (ACHD) patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) are prone to postoperative complications, and characterization of the risk profile continues to fail in identifying inflammatory predilection. Our objective is to investigate the role of platelet-leukocyte indices (neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio [NLR], platelet-lymphocyte ratio [PLR], and systemic immune-inflammation index [SII] [neutrophil x platelet/lymphocyte]) in predicting poor outcomes following cardiac surgery in ACHD cohort with preoperative PH. Methods: This single-center, retrospective risk-predictive study included ACHD patients undergoing surgical correction at our tertiary cardiac center between January 2015 and December 2019. Standard institutional perioperative management protocol was followed, and poor postoperative outcome was defined as ≥1 of: low cardiac output syndrome, new-onset renal failure, prolonged mechanical ventilation (MV > 24 hours), stroke, sepsis, and/or death. Results: One hundred eighty patients out of 1,040 (17.3%) presented poor outcome. On univariate analysis, preoperative factors including right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) (PH-severity marker), congestive heart failure, albumin, NLR, PLR, SII, and aortic cross-clamping (ACC) and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) times predicted poor outcome. However, on multivariate analysis, RVSP, NLR, SII, and ACC and CPB times emerged as independent predictors. An NLR, SII prognostic cutoff of 3.33 and 860.6x103/mm³ was derived (sensitivity: 77.8%, 78.9%; specificity: 91.7%, 82.2%; area under the curve: 0.871, 0.833). NLR and SII values significantly correlated with postoperative MV duration, mean vasoactive-inotropic scores, and length of intensive care unit and hospital stay (P<0.001). Conclusion: Novel parsimonious, reproducible platelet-leukocyte indices present the potential of stratifying the risk in congenital cardiac surgical patients with pre-existing PH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]