Cardiac catheterization in pediatric pulmonary hypertension: a systematic and practical approach

Survey of a Practical Approach to Central Venous Catheterization in Pediatric Patients

Background Central venous catheter (CVC) is used for measuring hemodynamic variables, transfusion of blood, fluids and medications when peripheral vascular lack sufficiency. Unfortunately CVC is associated with many complications ranging from anxiety and discomfort for the patient to severe mechanical side effects such as arterial lacerations, pleural and pericardial injury as well as infection...

Pulmonary Hypertension in Children - a Practical Approach.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is mean pulmonary arterial pressure above 25 mmHg at rest. Although considered a rare disease, the prevalence of PH in certain risk groups is higher, from 0.5% in patients with HIV infection to 30% in congenital heart disease (CHD) associating PH. In pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) associated with CHD, early changes of the vascular bed are reversible after corr...

Diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization in the Pediatric Population

Although the utility of diagnostic cardiac catheterization in the clinical setting has diminished over the last years, due to the emergence of noninvasive imaging modalities, such as echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography, catheterization for diagnostic reasons still constitutes a valuable tool in certain parts in the workup of pediatric heart disease. As a result,...

Pediatric and congenital therapeutic cardiac catheterization.

T he concept that a catheter could be used for intracardiac therapy was first put into practice in 19641 with the dilation of acquired peripheral vascular stenosis by graduated rigid dilators. Isolated cases of intracardiac therapy with a catheter had appeared as early as 19532; however, the balloon atrial septostomy developed by Dr. Rashkind and reported in 19663 was the first pediatric and th...

A Pathophysiological Approach to Understanding Pulmonary Hypertension in Cardiac Surgery