Open Access

COMMENTARY

Luciane Alves da Rocha Amorim¹, Edward Araujo Júnior^2,3,*
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.080881 - 31 July 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Mental Health & Behaviour in CHD)
Abstract The diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD) brings profound uncertainty and emotional distress to families, yet the spiritual dimension of this experience is often overlooked in routine counseling. Based on a narrative review of the literature and our group’s prior scoping work, this commentary proposes a practical, ethically grounded framework for integrating spiritual awareness into fetal and pediatric CHD counseling. We distinguish spirituality from related constructs, religiosity, coping, resilience, and cultural values, and discuss both its potential benefits (e.g., fostering resilience, supporting decision-making) and risks (e.g., spiritual distress, fatalism, conflict with medical recommendations). Practical guidance… More >

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REVIEW

Anusha Konduri^1,*, Toni Duganiero², Lauren Smyth², Shahnawaz Amdani³, Angela Lorts², Sabrina Law⁴, Jacqueline Lamour⁵, Deipanjan Nandi⁶, Aryaz Sheybani⁷, Sarah Wilkens⁸, Thomas Young⁹, Mark Bleiweis¹⁰, Jennifer Conway¹¹
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.082288 - 31 July 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Registries in Congenital Heart Disease)
Abstract Pediatric heart failure is associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and health care utilization across diverse diagnoses and care settings. Despite major advances in surgical and medical care, evidence-based management of heart failure in the pediatric population, especially with congenital heart disease (CHD), remains limited due to a small patient population, marked anatomic and physiologic heterogeneity, and barriers to conducting traditional randomized clinical trials. Clinical registries have provided important insights into pediatric heart failure, and the increasing complexity of these populations has underscored the value of learning health system approaches to data generation and improvement. The… More >

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ARTICLE

Yi Shen^1,2,3,#, Zeye Liu^4,#, Jing Xie^5,#, Xuanqi An^6,7,8,#, Zeyu Jing^1,2,3, Wenchuan Liao^1,2,3, Yifan Zhu^1,2,3, Chenyu Jiang^1,2,3, Xingliang Zhou^1,2,3, Xu Huang^1,2,3, Tianyu Liu^1,2,3, Jian Liu^1,2,3, Yuxi Ji^1,2,3, Yi Yan^1,3, Bei Feng^1,3, Yiwei Liu^1,2,3, Yi Shi^4,*, Yanjun Sun^2,*, Hao Zhang^1,2,3,*
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.085942 - 31 July 2026
Abstract Background: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital anomaly worldwide, yet the contribution of environmental factors to its global geographic variation remains incompletely understood. We aimed to systematically identify environmental factors associated with CHD incidence using an integrated framework combining machine learning and spatial epidemiology. Methods: Country-level data were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 study. Boruta algorithm-based feature selection and random forest SHAP value ranking were applied to identify environmental factors associated with CHD incidence. Negative binomial regression was used to evaluate the associations between selected variables and CHD incidence.… More >

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ARTICLE

Budi Rahmat¹, Dicky Fakhri¹, Rama Vinnu Isyawan¹, Ghitha Zahra Haifa^1,2,*
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.077573 - 31 July 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Special Issue from the 5^th Asian Association for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery (AAPCHS) Annual Conference)
Abstract Background: Univentricular heart defects with unrestricted pulmonary blood flow are commonly managed using pulmonary artery banding (PAB) followed by bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt (BCPS) as part of staged palliation, but the optimal interval between these procedures remains uncertain. Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated the association between the PAB–BCPS interval and postoperative outcomes after BCPS in patients treated at the National Cardiovascular Center Harapan Kita, Indonesia, from January 2015 to January 2024. Patients with univentricular heart defects and unrestricted pulmonary blood flow who underwent BCPS after prior PAB were included, whereas those undergoing BCPS with major concomitant… More >

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ARTICLE

Shilpa Aryal^1,*, Marhisham Che Mood², Sivakumar Sivalingam², Boekhren Karyostyko², Yusoff Ramdzan², Haifa Abdul Latiff², Ming Chern Leong²
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.083109 - 31 July 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Special Issue from the 5^th Asian Association for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery (AAPCHS) Annual Conference)
Abstract Background: Double-outlet right ventricle (DORV) encompasses a spectrum of disorders characterized by both great vessels arising from the right ventricle. This study compared the diagnostic accuracy of multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in predicting the optimal surgical strategy by evaluating the concordance between preoperative imaging-based decisions and intraoperative findings. Methods: This single-center, retrospective study included 112 patients with DORV (56 MSCT + TTE and 56 TTE only) who underwent surgical correction between January 2010 and December 2024. Agreement between preoperative and intraoperative surgical decisions was assessed by weighted kappa (κ). Diagnostic accuracy was… More >

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REVIEW

Whitnee Hogan^1,2,*, Thomas S. Przybycien^3,4, Anita J. Moon-Grady^3,4
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.085038 - 31 July 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Registries in Congenital Heart Disease)
Abstract Improvements in fetal cardiac imaging have highlighted the need for large, multidisciplinary collaborations to further advance fetal cardiovascular care. The Fetal Cardiac Intervention Registry (IFCIR), established in 2011, aims to improve outcomes in fetuses with congenital heart disease (CHD) considered amenable to fetal cardiac intervention (FCI). The registry compiles data from multiple international centers to better define indications, selection criteria, procedural techniques, complications, and outcomes of FCI. The Fetal Heart Society (FHS), founded in 2014, is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding of in utero cardiovascular physiology through collaborative research, education and mentorship. The… More >

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ARTICLE

Fan Yang^1,#, Xia Li^1,#, Zhiyuan Zhu^1,#, Shilin Wang^1,#, Zhongyuan Lu¹, Chao Yue², Leilei Duan¹, Xu Wang^1,*
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.075534 - 31 July 2026
Abstract Background: Early major adverse events (MAEs) after cardiac surgery are associated with substantial postoperative morbidity and mortality in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD). Early identification of patients at increased risk may facilitate timely intervention and optimize postoperative management. This study aimed to identify perioperative predictors of early MAEs and to develop a nomogram for individualized postoperative risk assessment. Methods: This single-center retrospective study included 766 infants with CHD who underwent cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass at Beijing Fuwai Hospital between January 2020 and December 2021. Early MAEs were defined as the occurrence of at least… More >

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CASE REPORT

Ye Tan^1,2, Jing Ling^3,4,5, Zewen Chen^3,4,5, Runzhang Liang^3,4,5, Shusheng Wen^3,4,5, Yong Zhang^3,4,5,*
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.077197 - 31 July 2026
Abstract Background: Congenital left ventricular diverticulum is an uncommon cardiac malformation that may present with chest pain, ventricular arrhythmia, thromboembolism, or rupture risk depending on lesion morphology and wall composition. Case description: We report an adolescent male with chest pain and frequent premature ventricular complexes who was found to have a giant apical left ventricular diverticulum with marked wall thinning and regional hypokinesia. Multimodality imaging, including transthoracic echocardiography, computed tomography, cardiac magnetic resonance, and myocardial perfusion/metabolic assessment, supported the diagnosis of a fibrous diverticulum and helped exclude ischemic myocardial injury. To refine operative planning, patient-specific dynamic three-dimensional (3D)… More >

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CASE REPORT

Taro Kono, Naofumi F. Sumitomo^*, Atsushi Maruyama, Takayuki Oyanagi
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.079259 - 31 July 2026
（This article belongs to the Special Issue: Novel Methods and Techniques for the Management of Congenital Heart Disease)
Abstract Background: A reverse Potts shunt is performed as a palliative intervention for severe pulmonary hypertension (PH) to decompress the right ventricle. Several reports have described transcatheter stenting of the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) to create an endogenous Potts shunt in infants with severe PH, typically via the femoral vein approach. Case Description: We present the case of a 7-month-old, 7.5 kg female infant diagnosed with severe PH dependent on PDA circulation, who was treated with PDA stenting via the right internal jugular vein (RIJV) approach due to inferior vena cava occlusion. A veno-arterial wire loop was created More >

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ARTICLE

Meng-Zhen Zhang^1,#, Ming Li^2,#, Peng-Ju Wen¹, Yue-Heng Wu^1,*, Ling Sun^3,*
Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.077380 - 31 July 2026
Abstract Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is increasingly recognized as a disease of impaired myocardial energetics, but integrated proteomic–metabolomic data from human myocardium are scarce. This study combined quantitative proteomics and untargeted metabolomics to obtain a systems-level view of myocardial remodeling and to identify pathways jointly dysregulated at the protein and metabolite levels. Methods: Myocardial tissue from 7 patients with HCM who underwent surgical myectomy and 5 healthy control donors at Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital was analyzed by data-independent acquisition-based quantitative proteomics and Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry–based untargeted metabolomics. Differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) and metabolites were identified using… More >

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