Introduction Worldwide, congenital heart disease is the principal heart disease in children and constitutes one of the major causes of infant mortality, particularly in developing countries. Infants and children with congenital heart disease exhibit a range of delays in weight gain and growth. In some instances, the delay can be relatively mild, whereas in other cases, cause the failure to thrive. Objectives To determine the nutritional status and associated factors of pediatric patients with congenital heart disease. Material and method A cross sectional analytical study conducted over a period of 6 months (Feb to Jul 2020). A total of 228 subjects with congenital heart disease who visited the cardiac center during the study period where included until the calculated sample size attained. Data is collected from patient’s card and their care giver. Data was then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for windows version 25.0. Odds Ratio with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was used to determine the effect of the independent variables on the outcome variable and P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results A total of 228 children ranging from 3month to 17yrs of age with mean age of 4.7 years (SD = 3.8 years) were included in the study. Most of the subjects had acyanotic heart disease accounting for 87.7%. The overall prevalence of wasting, underweight and stunting were 41.3%, 49.1% and 43% respectively. Children with congenital heart disease and having pulmonary hypertension, were found more likely to develop wasting compared to those without pulmonary hypertension with an odds of 1.9 (95% CI: 1.0–3.4) and also have greater chance of stunting with an odds of 1.9 (95% CI: 1.0–3.4). Children 5 to 10 years of age were 2.3 times more likely to be underweight. Conclusion Malnutrition is a major problem in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease. Pulmonary hypertension and older age are associated with increased risk of undernutrition.

Introduction Rheumatic heart disease continues to be a public health problem worldwide. In developing countries such as Ethiopia where rheumatic heart disease is endemic, most of the patients present with complaints related to complications including heart failure, arrhythmias, pulmonary hypertension, stroke, systemic embolic events and infective endocarditis. Objective To identify the types and magnitude of complications in pediatric patients with rheumatic heart disease. Methodology Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Saint Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College, pediatric and child health department. All pediatric cardiac patients with rheumatic heart disease seen from January 1, 2018 to December 30, 2021 were included in the study. Conclusion The majority of patients presented to our health facility with complications which implies the need for action at the community level to detect the disease at early stage. Recommendations We recommend a similar large-scale study to be conducted at the national level and introduce a national RHD registry to better understand the magnitude of the problem, based on which necessary action will be undertaken. There is also a need to assess the proper implementation of screening and preventive RHD programmes.

Background: Rheumatic fever continues to be a major public health problem in the developing world, being responsible for many morbidities and mortalities. Were it not for its serious effects on the cardiovascular system, and to some extent on the central nervous system, the disease might not have significant consequences. The central nervous system involvement is explained with Sydenham chorea in which case the patient manifests with purposeless and choreiform movements aggravated by stress. Apart from this movement disorder the patient will also demonstrate emotional liability and motor manifestations. It is seen more commonly in children and young adolescent girls. It usually manifests as an isolated phenomenon called pure chorea, without evidence of active rheumatic fever; the other rare form of which is a type of acute rheumatic fever. Clinical Description: This case report is about a nine-year-old female child presenting with two weeks of complaint of abnormal purposeless, non-rhythmic movement of extremities and the face, with failure to communicate. At presentation, she had non-pruritic skin lesions that had appeared a day prior to admission. The skin lesions were circular, red in color, and painless, involving the abdomen, and lower chest anteriorly, and extending to all extremities and the back. Two months previously she had a history of sore throat and treatment with unspecified P.O. medication. Antistreptolysin O (ASO) antibody was 430 Todd units/mL and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 58 mm/h. Echocardiography study revealed carditis (no evidence of chronicity) with moderate to severe MR, mild TR, no pulmonary hypertension, good biventricular function, and no pericardial effusion. Conclusion: In this case report, we would like to show the central nervous system manifestation of rheumatic fever called Sydenham chorea seen together with erythema marginatum and other features of rheumatic fever.

Introduction Fetal cardiac rhabdomyoma is one of the rare benign cardiac masses which is commonly associated with the tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). Though mostly fetal cardiac rhabdomyoma is asymptomatic it may lead to life-threatening conditions like outflow obstruction, arrhythmias, hydrops fetalis, or sudden fetal death. Case Report We are reporting an isolated, asymptomatic fetal intra-cardiac mass (rhabdomyoma) that was discovered at 32 weeks of gestation and was followed as an outpatient until 39 weeks plus one day, at which point a cesarean section was performed. After delivery, the child underwent evaluations at the 1 st day, 7 th day, 30 th day, 7 th month, and 12 th month of age. Following a checkup, the child’s anthropometric and neurobehavioral growth were both healthy. Except for the tumor, which was neither growing nor shrinking in size, none of the clinical diagnostic criteria for tuberous sclerosis complex were met for this child up to the age of one year. Conclusion The most common primary benign fetal cardiac tumor is cardiac rhabdomyoma, which is usually associated with tuberous sclerosis. In developing nations where it is challenging to obtain MRIs and genetic studies, and in a similar patient like ours with no other features of tuberous sclerosis, the child needs to be followed in the future, bearing in mind that tuberous sclerosis manifestations will continue to develop over a patient’s lifetime.