Abdominal Problems in Children with Congenital Cardiovascular Abnormalities

Risk factors of gastrointestinal bleeding after cardiopulmonary bypass in children: a retrospective study

Background

During cardiac surgery that involved cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) procedure, gastrointestinal (GI) system was known to be vulnerable to complications such as GI bleeding. Our study aimed to determine the incidence and risk factors associated with GI bleeding in children who received CPB as part of cardiac surgery.

Methods

This retrospective study enrolled patients aged <18 years who underwent cardiac surgery with CPB from 2013 to 2019 at Shanghai Children's Medical Center. The primary outcome was the incidence of postoperative GI bleeding in children, and the associated risk factors with postoperative GI bleeding episodes were evaluated.

Results

A total of 21,893 children who underwent cardiac surgery with CPB from 2013 to 2019 were included in this study. For age distribution, 636 (2.9%) were neonates, 10,984 (50.2%) were infants, and 10,273 (46.9%) were children. Among the 410 (1.9%) patients with GI bleeding, 345 (84.2%) survived to hospital discharge. Incidence of GI bleeding in neonates, infants and children were 22.6% (144/636), 2.0% (217/10,984) and 0.5% (49/10,273), respectively. The neonates (22.6%) group was associated with highest risk of GI bleeding. Patients with GI bleeding showed longer length of hospital stays (25.8 ± 15.9 vs. 12.5 ± 8.9, P < 0.001) and higher mortality (15.9% vs. 1.8%, P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, weight, complicated surgery, operation time, use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS), hepatic injury, artery lactate level, and postoperative platelet counts were significantly associated with increased risk of GI bleeding in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) pediatric patients that underwent CPB procedure during cardiac surgery.

Conclusion

The study results suggest that young age, low weight, long operation time, complicated surgery, use of ECMO, LCOS, hepatic injury, high arterial lactate level, and low postoperative platelet counts are independently associated with GI bleeding after CPB in children.

Brain Abscess Due to Neglected Tetralogy of Fallot: A Case Report

Backgroiund: Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is a type of congenital heart disease accounts for about 10% of all congenital cardiac deformities, and is the most common cyanotic lesion after the first year of life. The ideal age for correction of tetralogy of Fallot is still under discussion. Non-cardiac manifestation due to oxygen deficiency has to be aware of in cyanotic patient is brain abscess, because of the right-left shunt in long standing TOF. Objectives: To report a case of neglected TOF. Case And Discussion: A one-year-old male presented to Murni Teguh Memorial Hospital with the chief complaint of stiffed neck for the past 3 days and got fever for 10 days before admitted, with nausea and vomiting. He was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot through an echocardiography examination when he was 2 months old, but never go through any medical nor surgical treatment. The boy responded to verbal, no eye contact, high grade fever, stiffed neck, Kernig sign and Brudzinski sign was found, and the right extremities were spastic, clubbing finger. On cardiac examination, there was systolic murmur grade ¾ in the left second intercostal space. Echocardiography evaluation revealed dilated RA-RV, no PDA shunt, large mal alignment ventricular septal defect, overriding aorta > 50%, right ventricular hypertrophy, and severe infundibular pulmonary stenosis, consistent with Tetralogy of Fallot. During hospitalization, there were several episodes of seizure and decreased of consciousness, brain CT investigation was done. The abscess was evacuated and a ventriculoperitoneal shunt was performed. One week after the operation, the patient developed abdominal distention, green bile like vomiting, decreased bowel movement and soon muscular defense. From the plain abdominal x-ray and CT revealed peritonitis and intestinal obstruction. An emergency laparotomy was performed, followed by adhesiolysis and jejunostomy due to jejunal perforation. The boy passed away after several episodes of septic shock. Conclusions: We would like to emphasis the consequence of the neglected treatment in infant with TOF.