The authors demonstrated liver lymph leakage as a cause of PLE in patients with congenital heart disease and elevated central venous pressure. Lymphatic embolization led to improved albumin levels and relief of symptoms. Further experience with the technique is needed to determine long-term outcome of this procedure.

Background:The Fontan operation is performed for surgical palliation of single ventricle physiology. This operation is usually preceded by a superior cavopulmonary connection (SCPC); lymphatic abnormalities after SCPC may be demonstrated at MRI and prior to the Fontan operation.Purpose: To determine if the degree of neck and thoracic lymphatic abnormalities at T2-weighted MRI in patients after superior cavopulmonary connection (SCPC) correlated with surgical outcomes from the Fontan procedure. Materials and Methods:Patients for whom SCPC was performed for palliation of single ventricle disease who underwent chest MRI between July 2012 and May 2015 at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. T2-weighted images were scored as lymphatic type 1 (little or no T2 mediastinal and supraclavicular signal) to type 4 (T2 signal into both the mediastinum and the lung parenchyma). Fontan takedown, duration of post-Fontan hospitalization and pleural effusion, postoperative plastic bronchitis, need for transplant, and mortality were tabulated. The relationship between lymphatic type and clinical outcomes was evaluated by using analysis of variance (ANOVA), the Kruskal-Wallis H test, and the Fisher exact test.Results: A total of 83 patients (mean age, 7.9 years 6 2.6) were evaluated. Among these 83 patients, 53 (64%) were classified with type 1 or 2 lymphatic abnormalities, 17 (20%) with type 3, and 12 (16%) with type 4. The rate of failure of Fontan completion was higher in patients with type 4 than in type 1 or 2 (54% vs 2%, respectively; P = .004). Need for cardiac transplant (one of 13 [8%]) and death (three of 13 [23%]) occurred only in type 4. Median postoperative length of stay was longer for patients with type 4 than for those with types 1 or 2 (29 days vs 9 days, respectively; P , .01). Conclusion:Greater MRI-based severity of lymphatic abnormalities in patients prior to planned Fontan procedure was associated with failure of Fontan completion and longer postoperative stay.

Background Recent studies suggest that lymphatic congestion plays a role in development of late Fontan complications, such as protein‐losing enteropathy. However, the role of the lymphatic circulation in early post‐Fontan outcomes is not well defined. Methods and Results This was a retrospective, single‐center study of patients undergoing first‐time Fontan completion from 2012 to 2017. The primary outcome was early Fontan complication ≤6 months after surgery, a composite of death, Fontan takedown, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, chest tube drainage >14 days, cardiac catheterization, readmission, or transplant. Complication causes were assigned to 1 of 4 groups: (1) Fontan circuit obstruction, (2) ventricular dysfunction or atrioventricular valve regurgitation, (3) persistent pleural effusions in the absence of Fontan obstruction or ventricular dysfunction, and (4) chylothorax or plastic bronchitis. T2‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging sequences were used to assess for lymphatic perfusion abnormality. The cohort consisted of 238 patients. Fifty‐eight (24%) developed early complications: 20 of 58 (34.5%) in group 1, 8 of 58 (14%) in group 2, 18 of 58 (31%) in group 3, and 12 of 58 (20%) in group 4. Preoperative T2 imaging was available for 126 (53%) patients. Patients with high‐grade lymphatic abnormalities had 6 times greater odds of developing early complications ( P =0.001). Conclusions There is substantial morbidity in the early post‐Fontan period. Half of those who developed early complications had lymphatic failure or persistent effusions unrelated to structural or functional abnormalities. Preoperative T2 imaging demonstrated that patients with higher‐grade lymphatic perfusion abnormalities were significantly more likely to develop early complications. This has implications for risk stratification and optimization of patients before Fontan palliation.

Integration of pediatric palliative care (PPC) into management of children with serious illness and their families is endorsed as the standard of care. Despite this, timely referral to and integration of PPC into the traditionally cure-oriented cardiac ICU (CICU) remains variable. Despite dramatic declines in mortality in pediatric cardiac disease, key challenges confront the CICU community. Given increasing comorbidities, technological dependence, lengthy recurrent hospitalizations, and interventions risking significant morbidity, many patients in the CICU would benefit from PPC involvement across the illness trajectory. Current PPC delivery models have inherent disadvantages, insufficiently address the unique aspects of the CICU setting, place significant burden on subspecialty PPC teams, and fail to use CICU clinician skill sets. We therefore propose a novel conceptual framework for PPC-CICU integration based on literature review and expert interdisciplinary, multi-institutional consensus-building. This model uses interdisciplinary CICU-based champions who receive additional PPC training through courses and subspecialty rotations. PPC champions strengthen CICU PPC provision by (1) leading PPC-specific educational training of CICU staff; (2) liaising between CICU and PPC, improving use of support staff and encouraging earlier subspecialty PPC involvement in complex patients' management; and(3) developing and implementing quality improvement initiatives and CICUspecific PPC protocols. Our PPC-CICU integration model is designed for adaptability within institutional, cultural, financial, and logistic constraints, with potential applications in other pediatric settings, including ICUs. Although the PPC champion framework offers several unique advantages, barriers to implementation are anticipated and additional research is needed to investigate the model's feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy.The goal of pediatric palliative care (PPC) is to provide support and reduce suffering for children with serious illnesses and their families. 1 These objectives are accomplished through expert interdisciplinary assessment and management of physical and psychological symptoms, provision of high-quality communication to facilitate decision-making and advance care planning, attention to psychosocial and spiritual suffering, enhancement of quality of life, and provision of emotional, logistic, grief, and bereavement support. [2][3][4][5] The National Academy of Medicine has long advocated for the provision and evaluation of child-and family-centered