Thoracic Key

Abstract Every year in the United States approximately 40,000 infants are born with congenital heart disease. Many of these infants require corrective or palliative surgery in the neonatal period. Mortality…

Abstract The etiology of inflammatory heart disease encompasses a wide array of pathologic processes, including infectious, rheumatic, autoimmune, toxic, allergic diseases, and idiopathic, among others. The manifestations of such disease…

Abstract Infants and children with congenital heart disease (CHD) require multidisciplinary care, and they often require the services of the pediatric surgeon. Pediatric surgical care in infants with CHD revolves…

Abstract This chapter will review the process of normal coagulation in infants and children, examine the various tests of the clotting mechanism, review the alterations of hemostasis in congenital heart…

Abstract The care of neonates, infants, children, and adults with acquired and congenital heart disease (CHD) recovering from cardiac surgery presents one of the most complex and rapidly evolving challenges…

Abstract There are still many unanswered questions regarding blood management in the critically ill patient. Patients with congenital cardiac disease are further complicated by their variable physiology and subsequent response…

Abstract Over the past two decades survival from pediatric cardiac arrest has improved dramatically, particularly in the in-hospital setting, from 15% to nearly 50%. The reasons for this are multifactorial…

Abstract Nutrition is a vital consideration in children with critical heart disease for several reasons: (1) nutritional deficiency may cause heart disease; (2) congenital heart disease (CHD) may cause malnutrition…

Abstract The triad of preload, afterload, and inotropic state of the heart determines stroke volume, which together with heart rate determines cardiac output. The parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems regulate…