Congenital heart diseases are corrected early in life, so the surgical procedure has to maintain the maximum potential for growth. The quest for the ideal material for cardiac tissue repair is still ongoing. Here, we describe our preliminary experience with an extracellular matrix for cardiac and vascular tissue repair. Between August 2009 and April 2011, 26 patients underwent cardiac surgery using the CorMatrix patch for vascular repair (10 pulmonary artery, four ascending aorta, three aortic arch and one right ventricular outflow tract) or for valve reconstruction (five aortic, two tricuspid, one mitral and one pulmonary valve); in four cases, the repair was associated with pericardial closure using the same patch. There were no deaths, and at a mean follow-up of 13.2 months, there was no evidence of patch-related complications either in the vascular position or when used for valve repair. The ideal material for cardiac tissue repair should be haemostatic and resistant to tearing and calcification, and possibly one that will not induce an inflammatory cascade. In the last 25 months, we used an extracellular matrix for cardiac and vascular tissue repair. The patch is advocated to induce the patient's own tissue regeneration. The early results are encouraging, but a longer follow-up is needed to understand the real potential of this material.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines have been recently associated with acute myocarditis, predominantly in healthy young males. Out of 231,989 vaccines administrated in our region (Marche, Italy), we report a case series of six healthy patients (four males and two females, 16.5 years old (Q1, Q3: 15, 18)) that experienced mRNA-COVID-19-vaccines side effects. All patients were hospitalized due to fever and troponins elevation following the second dose of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) was performed 72–96 h after vaccination. All patients were treated with colchicine and ibuprofen. Myocarditis was prevalent in males. It was characterized by myocardial edema and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in the lateral wall of the left ventricle (LV). One patient showed sole right ventricular involvement, while the females presented with myopericarditis (myocarditis + pericardial effusion). All patients in our series had preserved LV ejection fraction and remained clinically stable during a relatively short inpatient hospital stay. One case presented with atrial tachycardia. At the follow-up, no significant CMR findings were documented after a three-month medical treatment. According to other recently published case series, our report suggests a possible association between acute myocarditis and myopericarditis with mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in healthy young adults and pediatric patients. Not only males are involved, while some arrhythmic manifestations are possible, such as atrial tachycardia. Conversely, we here highlight the benign nature of such complications and the absence of CMR findings after a three-month medical treatment with colchicine and ibuprofen.

We report a case of a newborn, affected by tuberous sclerosis complex, with a prenatally diagnosed giant cardiac rhabdomyoma associated with a large renal angiomyolipoma presenting as a duct-depending lesion not treatable by surgery. After receiving everolimus, a mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor, we observed a rapid, significant, and durable reduction of both lesions without remarkable side effects.

Plastic bronchitis is a rare complication of a variety of respiratory diseases and congenital heart disease surgery, particularly Fontan procedure. Bronchial casts with rubber-like consistency develop acutely and may cause severe life-threatening respiratory distress. The management of plastic bronchitis is yet not well defined. Early intermittent, self-administered nebulization of tissue plasminogen activator was found to be effective in preventing deterioration of acute respiratory symptoms in a patient with primary ciliary dyskinesia and recurrent cast formation. Further investigation into new therapeutic strategies for this devastating disease is advocated.