Short- and long-term survival of children treated with ventricular assist devices in Spain, based on 15 years' experience.

Objectives: To describe the use of ventricular assist devices (VAD) in children in Spain and to identify variables related to survival.

Methods: This is an observational cohort study of all children younger than 18 years of age who underwent an initial implantation of a VAD at any of the 6 paediatric heart transplant centres from May 2006 to December 2020. Subjects were identified retrospectively from each hospital's database.

A Venous Malformation: An Unusual Primary Cardiac Tumor in Children.

This case report describes a primary cardiac tumor, classified as venous malformation, diagnosed in an asymptomatic child. The tumor was located in the left atrium near the mitral valve without affecting the mitral valve's functioning. Complete resection of the lesion was performed because of the risk of systemic embolism.

Prosthetic pulmonary valve and conduit endocarditis in congenital heart disease.

Background: Pulmonary valve replacement is one of the most common procedures in patients with congenital heart disease. Little is known about prosthetic valve endocarditis in this population.

Objectives: To review management and outcomes of pediatric and adult patients with a prosthetic pulmonary valve or right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery conduit infective endocarditis.

Perioperative activin A concentrations as a predictive marker of neurologic abnormalities in children after open heart surgery.

Background: Ischemic-reperfusion injury of the brain is a major adverse event after cardiac surgery, especially when extracorporeal circuits are used. Because brain injury induces local overproduction of activin A, we measured plasma concentrations in children after open heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) to investigate the potential of measuring activin A for early identification of infants at risk for brain damage.

Methods: We evaluated 45 infants (age <1 year) with congenital heart defects: 36 without overt neurologic injury, and 9 with neurologic injury on day 7 after the surgical procedure.