Background: Pediatric patients are at risk for bleeding after cardiac surgery. Administration of antifibrinolytic agents reduces postoperative blood loss. Objective: Evaluation of the efficacy of combined administration of tranexamic acid (TXA) and ethamsylate in the reduction of postoperative blood loss in pediatric cardiac surgery. Methods: This prospective randomized study included 126 children submitted for cardiac surgery, and they were allocated into three groups: control group ( n = 42); TXA group ( n = 42):- received only TXA; and combined ethamsylate TXA group ( n = 42):- received a combination of TXA and ethamsylate. The main collected data included sternal closure time, the needs for intraoperative transfusion of blood and its products, the total amount of blood loss, and the amount of the whole blood and its products transfused to the patients in the first 24 postoperative hours. Results: Blood loss volume in the first 24 postoperative hours was significantly smaller in combined group than the TXA and control groups and was significantly smaller in the TXA group than the control group. The sternal closure time was significantly shorter in the combined group than the other 2 groups and significantly shorter in TXA than the control group. The amount of whole blood transfused to patients in the combined group during surgery and in the first postoperative 24 h was significantly smaller than the other 2 groups and smaller in TXA group than the control group during surgery. Conclusion: Combined administration of ethamsylate and TXA in pediatric cardiac surgery was more effective in reducing postoperative blood loss and whole blood transfusion requirements than the administration of TXA alone.

Background: Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) used for cardiac surgery is now uniformly carried out under normothermic conditions in adult patients; however, the temperature applied in pediatric CPB vary significantly, ranging from deep hypothermia to normothermia due to the lack of a consistent approach to CPB temperature in pediatric cardiac surgery, which is related to a lack of supportive evidence. Organs protection aim to decrease metabolic requirement and provide energy and oxygen, hypothermia has reached these goals by arresting and cooling the heart, delivering oxygen, and modifying reperfusion. Recently, a large number of studies investigated effect of hypothermia to decrease the negative impact of hypothermia. It has been suggested that the degree of hypothermia affects the inflammatory responses triggered by CPB. However, the use of normothermia during CPB had been introduced and resulted in acceptable results. We hypothesized that the use of normothermia during corrective surgery of AV septal defects improves the outcome of the CPB. Objective: The study aimed to compare the outcome of normothermic technique and mild hypothermic technique during (CPB) in pediatric cardiac patients undergoing repair of atrioventricular (AV) septal defect and their effect on tissue perfusion, serum lactate level, duration of patient intubation, and postoperative hospital stay. Patients and Methods: Forty patients presented for repair of AV defect aged from 1 month to 36 months were divided randomly into two equal groups (20 patients in each): Group I (Normothermic group) of body temperature more than 35°C up to 37°C and Group II (mild Hypothermic group) body temperature between (32°C–35°C). Basal data include complete blood count, electrolytes, arterial blood gases (ABGs), coagulation profile, and liver function tests were collected. Hemodynamic variables, ABG, serum lactate, and activated clotting time (ACT) measured in different time intervals related to CPB. With the termination of CPB, aortic cross-clamping time (minutes), CPB time (minutes), spontaneous regaining of the heart function, need for inotropic administration, and/or vasopressor requirements to wean the heart from CPB were reported in all patients. Results: This study showed statistically significant lower PH and HCO3 levels and significantly higher serum lactate levels in Group II (hypothermic) than Group I (normothermic) after weaning from CPB. Furthermore, ACT level was statistically significantly higher in Group II than Group I after weaning of CPB. During postoperative period, hypothermic group showed significantly higher liver enzymes than the normothermic group. The duration of inotropes administration and duration of intubation were significantly longer in Group II than Group I. Conclusion: Normothermia during CPB showed better global tissue perfusion than hypothermia in elective surgeries for repair of AV defects in the f...

Background Congenital lung malformations (CLM) are a gamut of lesions that originate throughout the embryonic period and manifest in the neonatal or sporadically in the prenatal period, characteristically might stay well for some time, to be found inadvertently or to present with complications. In the 13 years from Jan. 2003 to Dec. 2015, this prospective cohort study included consecutive pediatric patients under 12 years old, who presented either emergently or electively with any variety of CLM. The lesions encompassed in this assortment were congenital lobar emphysema (CLE), congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM), bronchogenic cysts (BC), and bronchopulmonary sequestration (BPS). Results Sixty-eight pediatric patients with CLM were operated at our institution; 18 CPAMs, 22 CLEs, 19 BPSs (17 intralobar and 2 extralobar), and 9 patients with BCs. The patients' age ranged from 1 to 54 months (mean age of 10.73 ± 9.73 months), with overall male gender predominance (61.76%). Both CLE and CPAM had a male predominance, while BC and BPS had equivocal gender distribution. CLE patients had the earliest presentation at 2.89 ± 1.5 months and congenital cystic adenomatoid malformations (CCAM) had the latest presentation at 21.78 ± 15.6 months (F = 15.27, p < 0.0001). Lobectomy was the commonest procedure performed. Fifty-nine lobectomies were performed (21 LUL, 15 RLL, 14 LLL, 8 RUL, and 1 middle lobectomy). Six cystectomies were performed for BC. Twenty-three cases (33.8%) had postoperative complications that were mainly significant or prolonged air leak (13.24%), pneumonia (5.88%), 3 cases of hemothorax (4.4%), pulmonary atelectasis in 2 patients (2.94%), 1 patient developed effusion (1.47%), and there were 2 mortalities. Conclusions CLM must be in mind in the differential diagnoses of any case with repeated infection, respiratory distress, or radiological abnormalities. Surgery in the form of lobectomy or lesser resection is generally safe.

Background: Patients with aortic valve regurgitation (AR) present at a late stage with impaired function. Some may not show improved function after surgery. Aim of the work:To evaluate the functional outcome in patients with and without poor left ventricular (LV) function and to evaluate the role of dobutamine echocardiography in predicting persistent dysfunction after surgery. Patients and Methods: Patients with severe AR (71) who underwent valve replacement (AVR) were divided into 2 groups based on the ejection fraction (EF); Group I: patients with EF <50% and Group II: patients with EF >50%. Group I was subdivided into 2 subgroups according to the response to dobutamine-stress echocardiography (DSE): Group Ia: patients whose EF increased to >50%, and Group Ib: patients whose EF remained <50%. Six months postoperatively, echocardiography was performed to assess the cardiac function and volumes. Results: Seventy one patients were included in the study: 39(54.9%) in Group I, 32(45.1%) in Group II, 21(29.6%) in Group Ia and 18(25.4%) in Group Ib. Preoperative criteria was not significantly different between the 2 groups apart from the intensive care unit (ICU) stay which was longer in group I (p = 0.006). In group Ia, EF raised on DSE (p < 0.001) and after surgery (p < 0.001). In group II, EF showed significant change on DSE (p < 0.001), but not after surgery (p = 0.203). Conclusions: Preoperative DSE can predict improvement of LV function after AVR in cases with severe AR with ventricular dysfunction.

Background: Deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) is a rare but potentially devastating complication of median sternotomy performed in cardiac surgery. The incidence of DSWI is reported to be between 0.2% and 3%. Identifying high-risk patients and strategies to optimize risk factors plays an important role in reducing the incidence of DSWI. Objective: This retrospective prospective study was designed to evaluate the management of deep median sternotomy wound infection after open heart surgery as regard the risk factors, rate and the outcome of its surgical treatment in