Preoperative exchange transfusion is a routine practice in patients with sickle cell disease having elevated sickle cell hemoglobin levels (>40%) undergoing open-heart surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass. A new approach toward acceptance and management of sickle cell disease patients with high sickle cell hemoglobin levels for open-heart surgery without preoperative exchange transfusion of blood is presented.

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Purulent pericarditis is uncommon among paediatric patients and cases caused by group A Streptococcus (GAS) are even rarer. We report a four-month-old female infant who was referred to the Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman, in 2015 with pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade. She had initially presented to a secondary hospital with a two-week history of fever, a runny nose and shortness of breath. Blood and pericardial fluid cultures confirmed GAS isolates. The infant was treated with a two-week course of antibiotics and made a complete recovery with no echocardiographical evidence of pericardial effusion at a two-month follow-up. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this case constitutes the youngest infant to present with GAS pericarditis. As invasive GAS infections can present in infancy, early recognition and treatment is required.

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To assess whether simultaneous invasive arterial pressure monitoring of right upper and lower limbs in neonatal aortic coarctation with or without arch hypoplasia has an impact on surgical decision-making and outcome, data of 140 newborns who underwent emergency surgical repair over 15 years were analyzed retrospectively. The 36 who had simultaneous right arm and lower limb arterial pressure monitored intraoperatively were assigned to group 1. The other 104 who had blood pressure monitored invasively at a single site (either upper or lower limb) were allocated to group 2. In group 1, a residual gradient across the repaired segment was detected intraoperatively in 13% of patients, and corrected at the same sitting. In group 2, 6% needed subsequent balloon angioplasty. In all babies with arch hypoplasia in group 1, the proximal aortic cross clamp was readjusted at least once to avoid compromise of carotid blood flow. Simultaneous right upper and lower limb invasive pressure monitoring has an impact on the overall outcome in these sick neonates.