Objective:To monitor the blood pressure in pediatric patients with coarctation of the aorta (CoA) before and 8 years after surgery, and explore the mechanism of elevated blood pressure in pediatric patients with repaired CoA.Methods:A cohort of 23 pediatric patients who underwent CoA repair between January 2010 and October 2010 in Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center was studied. And 20 age-, sex-match patients with isolated ventricular septal defect (VSD) who underwent surgery at the same time, 20 age-, sex-match health patients with normal echocardiographic findings were included in the study. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), arm-leg SBP gradient, right carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), serum transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) were monitored at baseline(1 day before surgery) and 8-year follow-up (8 years after surgery).Results:There were no differences in SBP and DBP among patients with CoA, patients with VSD and health children at baseline ( P>0.05). But at 8-year follow-up, 2 patients with CoA exhibited hypertension. Not only that, patients with CoA had higher SBP than patients with VSD and health children at 8-year follow-up ( P<0.05). Patients with CoA had higher arm-leg SBP gradient than patients with VSD and health children at baseline ( P<0.01). But there were no differences in arm-leg SBP among patients with CoA, patients with VSD and health children at 8-year follow-up ( P>0.05). Patients with CoA had increased CIMT and higher serum levels of TGF-β1 at baseline and 8-year follow-up ( P<0.05). The preoperative levels of CIMT and serum TGF-β1 in the patients with CoA were highly positively correlated with their levels at 8-year follow-up, respectively ( P<0.01). There was a strong correlation between the levels of CIMT and serum TGF-β1 in patients with CoA, both preoperatively and postoperatively ( P<0.01). The preoperative and postoperative levels of CIMT and serum TGF-β1 in the patients with CoA were highly positively correlated with SBP at 8-year follow-up, respectively( P<0.05). Conclusion:Although surgery can successfully cure the anatomical " stenosis" , patients with CoA have elevated systolic blood pressure than normal people and patients with simple congenital heart disease (such as VSD). And some of the patients with CoA suffer from hypertension at long-term follow-up, even they are normotensive preoperatively. It may be related to vascular remodeling, in which TGF-β signaling pathway may be involved. Monitoring CIMT and TGF-β1 in patients with CoA preoperatively may be significative for prediction for the levels of SBP postoperatively.

Objective:To observe the therapeutic timing and dosage of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) in children with severe adenovirus pneumonia.Methods:Clinical data of children with severe adenovirus pneumonia treated with IVIG at the Department of Respiratory, Guangzhou Women and Children′s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University from January 2019 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed.Participants were classified as early presenters (5-10 days of illness course) and later presenters (11-15 days of illness course) according to the timing of IVIG treatment.They were further subdivided into plan 1 group[1 g/(kg·d) IVIG for 2 days] and plan 2 group [0.4-0.5 g/(kg·d) IVIG for 3-5 days]. Continuous variables and categorical variables between groups were analyzed by the nonparametric Mann- Whitney U test and the Fisher′ s exact test, respectively. Results:A total of 202 patients with the median age of 12 (12, 36) months were recruited, involving 128 early presenters (63.37%) and 74 later presen-ters (36.63%). Later presenters had a longer duration of fever [18.00(14.00, 23.25) days vs.11.00(9.00, 14.00) days], more demands for mechanical ventilation (33.78% vs.20.31%), and higher incidence of bronchiectasis (9.46% vs.1.56%) than those of early presenters (all P<0.05). For early presenters, no significant differences were detected in the demand for advanced life support, outcomes and sequelae between plan 1 group and plan 2 group (all P>0.05). For later presenters, a shorter duration of fever [18.00(14.00, 21.00) days vs.21.00(15.50, 30.75) days] and lower usage of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO, 2.13% vs.18.52%) were observed in the plan 1 group than that of plan 2 group (all P<0.05). The incidence of post-infectious bronchiolitis obliterans and bronchiectasis as pulmonary sequelae was comparable between plan 1 group and plan 2 group ( P>0.05). The incidence of adverse events was 5.77% during IVIG infusion, showing no significant difference between plan 1 group and plan 2 group ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Early treatment of IVIG are very important to improve the prognosis of children with severe adenovirus pneumonia.For later presenters, a high dosage of IVIG is effective in reducing the ECMO use and shortening the duration of fever, thus providing clinical benefits.