COVID19, Heart, Infectious Disease, Rheumatology

Kids with MIS-C responding to treatments, but long-term outlook for coronavirus-related condition unclear

Kids with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) are recovering after treatments with anti-inflammatory drugs such as intravenous immunoglobulin and steroids, according to Brian J. Holland, M.D., chief of pediatric cardiology at Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine. Children who’ve come to the Norton Children’s Pediatric MIS-C Multidisciplinary Clinic are…

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Adult congenital heart disease (ACHD), Heart

Adult congenital heart disease: Growing up and growing old with ACHD

In 1940, children born with severe congenital heart disease (CHD) had less than a 10% chance of living to age 18. Over the years advanced new treatments, including surgeries, were developed. Survival rates improved: Children born in 1960 with CHD had less than 20% survival rate. In 1980, the survival rate had improved to 80%….

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Heart, Norton Childrens Outreach, Patient Stories, Pulmonary Atresia, Tetralogy of Fallot, Transport Team

A Bowling Green girl is ready for kindergarten after complex heart care

Kara Ainsley is a registered nurse at a rehabilitation facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She can tell when things are going smoothly and when they aren’t. After a relatively uneventful pregnancy, she labored the morning of May 31, 2015, at the local hospital. If there was anything unusual about her labor it was the duration…

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Fontan Procedure, Glenn Procedure, Heart, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Norwood Procedure, Single Ventricle Defects

For babies with complex heart conditions, care continues once it’s time to go home

Caring for children born with complex heart conditions can be challenging and stressful for families. Treatment involves long hospital stays and sometimes multiple open heart surgeries. Being well enough to go home is a big step, and the transition from round-the-clock hospital care to home requires education and close monitoring. These complex conditions such as…

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CICU, Employee stories - Norton Childrens, Heart, Heart Failure, Heart Transplant, Ventricular Assist Device

Norton Children’s Heart Institute growth helped pediatric cardiologist decide to move to Louisville

Pediatric cardiologist Sarah J. Wilkens, M.D., MPH, has trained to care for the sickest children — heart failure and transplant patients. “Ultimately what motivates me are the patients and trying to support their families in these difficult situations,” Dr. Wilkens said. Equally important, she said, is seeing her patients as they grow up — then…

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Heart, Mitral Valve Prolapse

Mitral valve prolapse is rarely serious and often has no symptoms

The heart condition of mitral valve prolapse, also known as floppy valve syndrome, involves two flaps in a heart valve that don’t close smoothly or evenly. The condition, which requires monitoring once diagnosed, affects 2% of the population, and most don’t even know they are living with it. “Mitral valve prolapse, also known as Barlow…

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Heart, News, Norton Childrens Medical Group, Orthopedics

Sports physicals especially important with coronavirus still looming

With youth sports returning to action with precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic, pediatricians are conducting yearly sports physicals to make sure kids are healthy and fit to engage in physical activity. A sports exam includes a health history questionnaire and a check of vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and respiration. “As…

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Arterial Switch Operation, Heart, Patient Stories, Transposition of the Great Arteries

2 years after emergency heart surgery when he was born, Trent is happy and energetic

Trent Robinson was rushed to Norton Children’s Hospital by ambulance from a nearby hospital just after being delivered by emergency cesarean section in March 2018. “He was turning blue. I got to see him for a split second as I was lying on the operating table,” said Brooklynn Robinson, Trent’s mother. Trent was diagnosed with…

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COVID19, Gastroenterology, Heart, Infectious Disease, Nephrology, Neurosciences, Rheumatology

Norton Children’s creates MIS-C multidisciplinary clinic

Norton Children’s has created a multidisciplinary clinic for children who have experienced multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19. Norton Children’s Pediatric MIS-C Multidisciplinary Clinic will give children who were hospitalized with MIS-C follow-up care with a team of pediatric specialists who can monitor the child for any short- and long-term effects of…

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Aortic Stenosis, Aortic Valve Disease, Heart, Heart Murmur

Young actor receives groundbreaking aortic valve repair

In the theater world, there are two basic rules: Don’t say “Macbeth” in a theater, and the show must go on. But what if you’ve gone in for your annual heart checkup and learned you need an aortic valve surgery to treat aortic regurgitation? It was a reality that 27-year-old Clayton Bliss found himself in…

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COVID19, Heart, Infectious Disease, Rheumatology

PMIS and COVID-19: What to watch for

Fewer children than adults have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Of children who have been diagnosed, most haven’t been very sick. Some children had cold symptoms, and we know that some children who have tested positive for the coronavirus have had no symptoms at all. However, over the last couple of weeks in the U. S….

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COVID19, Heart, Kawasaki Disease

COVID-19 and Kawasaki disease: What should parents know?

So far in the COVID-19 pandemic, data from China, Italy and other European countries showed that coronavirus infections were much less common in children than adults. When children did get sick with the virus, they didn’t become as sick. However, in late April, reports of children with hyperinflammatory symptoms emerged in England. Now, New York…

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