Identification of patients with latent rheumatic heart disease by echocardiography presents a unique opportunity to prevent disease progression. Myocardial strain is a more sensitive indicator of cardiac performance than traditional measures of systolic function.

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that abnormalities in myocardial strain may be present in children with latent rheumatic heart disease.

Standard echocardiography images with electrocardiogram gating were obtained from Ugandan children found to have latent rheumatic heart disease as well as control subjects. Traditional echocardiography measures of systolic function were obtained, and offline global longitudinal strain analysis was performed. Comparison between groups was performed using strain as a continuous (Mann–Whitney U-test) and categorical (cut-off 5th percentile for age) variable.

Our study included 14 subjects with definite rheumatic heart disease, 13 with borderline rheumatic heart disease, and 112 control subjects. None of the subjects had abnormal left ventricular size or ejection fraction. Global longitudinal strain was lower than the 5th percentile in 44% of the subjects with any rheumatic heart disease (p=0.002 versus controls) and 57% of the subjects with definite rheumatic heart disease (p=0.03). The mean absolute strain values were significantly lower when comparing subjects with any rheumatic heart disease with controls (20.4±3.95 versus 22.4±4.35, p=0.025) and subjects with definite rheumatic heart disease with controls (19.9±4.25 versus 22.4±4.35, p=0.033).

Global longitudinal strain is decreased in subjects with rheumatic heart disease in the absence of abnormal systolic function. Larger studies with longer-term follow-up are required to determine whether there is a role for strain to help better understand the pathophysiology of latent rheumatic heart disease.

Newer echocardiographic techniques may allow for more accurate assessment of right ventricular function. Adult studies have correlated these echocardiographic measurements with invasive data, but minimal data exist in the paediatric congenital heart population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate echocardiographic measurements that correlate best with right ventricular systolic and diastolic catheterisation parameters.

Patients with two-ventricle physiology who underwent simultaneous echocardiogram and cardiac catheterisation were included in this study. Right ventricular systolic echocardiographic data included fractional area change, displacement, tissue Doppler imaging s’ wave, global longitudinal strain, and strain rate s’ wave. Diastolic echocardiographic data included tricuspid E and A waves, tissue Doppler imaging e’ and a’ waves, and strain rate e’ and a’ waves. E/tissue Doppler imaging e’, tissue Doppler imaging e’/tissue Doppler imaging a’, E/strain rate e’, and strain rate e’/strain rate a’ ratios were also calculated. Catheterisation dP/dt was used as a marker for systolic function and right ventricular end-diastolic pressure for diastolic function.

A total of 32 patients were included in this study. The median age at catheterisation was 3.1 years (0.3–17.6 years). The DP/dt was 493±327 mmHg/second, and the right ventricular end-diastolic pressure was 7.7±2.4 mmHg. There were no significant correlations between catheterisation dP/dt and systolic echocardiographic parameters. Right ventricular end-diastolic pressure correlated significantly with strain rate e’ (r=−0.4, p=0.02), strain rate a’ (r=−0.5, p=0.03), and E/tissue Doppler imaging e’ (r=0.4, p=0.04).

Catheterisation dP/dt did not correlate with echocardiographic measurements of right ventricular systolic function. Strain rate and tissue Doppler imaging analysis significantly correlated with right ventricular end-diastolic pressure. These values should be further studied to determine whether they may be used as an alternative method to estimate right ventricular end-diastolic pressure in this patient population.

Dilated cardiomyopathy in children causes heart failure and has a poor prognosis. Health-related quality of life in this patient group is unknown. Moreover, results may provide detailed information of parents’ sense of their child’s functioning. We hypothesised that health-related quality of life, as rated by parents, and the paediatric heart failure score, as assessed by physicians, have both predictive value on outcome.

In this prospective study, health-related quality of life was assessed by parent reports: the Infant Toddler Quality of Life questionnaire (0–4 years) or Child Health Questionnaire-Parent Form 50 (4–18 years) at 3–6-month intervals. We included 90 children (median age 3.8 years, interquartile range (IQR) 0.9–12.3) whose parents completed 515 questionnaires. At the same visit, physicians completed the New York University Pediatric Heart Failure Index. Compared with Dutch normative data, quality of life was severely impaired at diagnosis (0–4 years: 7/10 subscales and 4–18 years: 8/11 subscales) and ⩾1 year after diagnosis (3/10 and 6/11 subscales). Older children were more impaired (p<0.05). After a median follow-up of 3 years (IQR 2–4), 15 patients underwent transplantation. Using multivariable time-dependent Cox regression, “physical functioning” subscale and the Heart Failure Index were independently predictive of the risk of death and heart transplantation (hazard ratio 1.24 per 10% decrease of predicted, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06–1.47 and hazard ratio 1.38 per unit, 95% CI 1.19–1.61, respectively).

Physical impairment rated by parents and heart failure severity assessed by physicians independently predicted the risk of death or heart transplantation in children with dilated cardiomyopathy.

The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence and potential correlates of feeding difficulties in infants who underwent cardiac surgery in the neonatal period and to investigate resource utilisation by infants with feeding difficulties.

All neonates who underwent their first cardiac surgery at the Heart Centre for Children, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, between January and December, 2009 were included. Demographic, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were collected via electronic medical records. For the purpose of this study, feeding difficulty was defined as the requirement for ongoing tube feeding at the time of discharge home or transfer to another hospital.

Out of a total of 79 neonates, 24 (30%) were discharged home or transferred to another hospital with a feeding tube. Feeding difficulties were associated with the presence of a genetic syndrome (p<0.0001), assisted feeding preoperatively (odds ratio (OR)=4.4, p=0.03), and having a palliative procedure before biventricular repair (OR=5.1, p=0.02). Infants with feeding difficulties had significantly more reviews by speech pathologists (M=5.9, SD=7.9), dieticians (M=5.9, SD=5.4), and cardiac clinical nurse consultants (M=1.2, SD=1.4) compared with those without feeding difficulties.

This study identified factors that can be used in the early recognition of infant feeding difficulties, to help guide the direction of limited health resources, as well as being focal points for future research and clinical practice improvement.