Lower respiratory tract infections are an important reason for mortality and morbidity in children with congenital heart disease. This study aimed to evaluate 50 children who had congenital heart disease and were hospitalized with lower respiratory tract infection in the Ege University Faculty of Medicine Pediatrics Hospital. Materials and Methods: Fifty pediatric patients were taken into the study. Their clinical symptoms, acute phase reactants, chest X-rays, bacterial culture of transtracheal aspirate, respiratory virus panel (with multiplex polimerase chain reaction) from nasopharyngeal swab were examined. The groups were evaluated in terms of age, gender, enviromental smoke exposure, living with school-aged siblings, Respiratory Syncytial virus (RSV) prophylaxis, hospitalization time, causative pathogen, additional risk factors. Results: Of the 50 cases, 12 (24%) were cyanotic, 38 (76%) were acyanotic. There were 26 boys and 24 girls. The most common diagnosis in the acyanotic group was hemodynamically significant VSD (isolated or with other diagnoses) with 20 cases. The average age of the cyanotic group was 23.88±28.81, and the acyanotic group was 12.25±15.45 months old. Hospitalizations most frequently occured in winter. The most frequent viral agent was RSV, which was not seen in the cyanotic group. All of the RSV infected patients were under 12 months old. In 16.7% of cyanotic and 52.6% of acyanotic patients there were extra risk factors such as immune deficiency, Down syndrome, prematurity, Di George syndrome, cerebral palsy, postoperative early period. Three cases lost their lives due to severe respiratory failure. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups when compared for demografic variables, risk factors, causative pathogens, hospitalization times. Conclusion: Lower respiratory tract infections and especifically RSV pneumonia are important causes of mortality and morbidity in patients diagnosed with congenital heart disease. To prevent risk factors, more studies must be done.

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a primary immune deficiency causing predisposition to infections with specific microorganisms, Aspergillus species and Staphylococcus aureus being the most common ones. A 16-year-old boy with a mutation in CYBB gene coding gp91phox protein (X-linked disease) developed a liver abscess due to Staphylococcus aureus. In addition to medical therapy, surgical treatment was necessary for the management of the disease. A 30-month-old girl with an autosomal recessive form of chronic granulomatous disease (CYBA gene mutation affecting p22phox protein) had invasive aspergillosis causing pericarditis, pulmonary abscess, and central nervous system involvement. The devastating course of disease regardless of the mutation emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and intervention of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as soon as possible in children with CGD.

Objective: We aimed to determine whether systolic and diastolic functions of patients who presented to the pediatric emergency clinic because of carbonmonoxide poisoning and were treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, were examined with tissue doppler imaging method before and after the treatment. Materials and Methods: Between January 2019-January 2021, 34 patients who presented to the pediatric emergency clinic because of carbonmonoxide poisoning and were treated with hyperbaric oxygen, and 34 healthy children who presented to the pediatric cardiology clinic as the control group were included. The study was performed prospectively. Results: The mean age of patients was 10.95 ± 4.75 years. 21 patients (61.8%) were female. 21 patients (61.8%) presented with natural gas poisoning. The most common complaint at admission to the hospital was loss of consciousness with 41.2%. The mean carboxyhemoglobin of the patients after carbonmonoxide poisoning was found to be 21.70±6.45. After one session of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the mean carboxyhemoglobin was found to be 0.74±0.34. The mean troponin-I level of the patients was 114.81±197.76 after carbonmonoxide poisoning and 42.32±118.36 after one session of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. In the tissue doppler imaging of the patients, the isovolemic relaxation time and myocardial performance index were higher in the group evaluated before hyperbaric oxygen therapy; ejection time was found to be shorter. Conclusions: Systolic and diastolic dysfunctions were found in the cardiac evaluation of patients who presented with carbonmonoxide poisoning and were treated with hyperbaric oxygen. It has been demonstrated echocardiographically that this dysfunction is reversible with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Objective: Different patch techniques were virtually always used in the surgery of pediatric patients with complete atrioventricular septal defects. In this study, we describe our single center, single surgeon experiences and results about the classic single patch and double patch techniques to repair complete atrioventricular septal defects. Materials and Methods: This retrospective descriptive study included 30 patients who underwent intracardiac repair of complete atrioventricular septal defect in …………………………, Department of Paediatric Cardiovascular Surgery, The study was conducted between February 2019 to December 2021. Patients in group S underwent surgery using the traditional single-patch method, while group D included patients who underwent repair using the double patch approach (n = 10). Patients’ demographic and clinical information was taken from institutional databases and medical records.. Postoperative complications were recorded. Results: When the preoperative/postoperative insufficiency levels of the valves were compared with the Wilcoxon Signed rank test, the findings were not statistically significant for the left atrioventricular valves, but were statistically significant for the right atrioventricular valves. (p=0.02) When we compared postoperative valve regurgitation of both techniques with the Kruskall-Wallis test, no significant difference was found between postoperative valve regurgitation and function, independent of preoperative findings. Conclusion: Both operation techniques did not make a difference between operative or late mortality and morbidity. Depending on the surgeon's experience, ventricular septal defect size does not play a restrictive role in the selection of the technique to be used. The single-patch and double patch method as described here is methodical, comprehensible, repeatable, and reasonably long-lasting.

A 3-year-old girl with the diagnosis of chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) was hospitalized for bronchopneumonia and congestive heart failure. Her medical history included methylprednisolone medication for autoimmune gastric outlet obstruction. Computed tomography revealed pneumonic infiltrations and pericardial thickening. A pulsed-wave Doppler recording revealed E/A >1. During a pericardiectomy, multiple islands of thick, firm-walled, fibrinous exudate-containing, small abscess formations were observed. Histopathological evaluation of pericardial tissue revealed granulomatous inflammation. Aspergillus fumigatus was cultured from the abscess. In conclusion, development of constrictive aspergillus pericarditis should be considered in patients with CGD because immediate initiation of antifungal management with aggressive surgical treatment is life-saving.