@article{Bano_Akhtar_Khan_2020, title={Pediatric congenital heart diseases: Patterns of presentation to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital: Pediatric congenital heart diseases}, volume={36}, url={https://pjms.org.pk/index.php/pjms/article/view/1592}, DOI={10.12669/pjms.36.3.1592}, abstractNote={<p><em><strong>Objective:</strong></em> To observe presentation of Pediatric congenital cardiac defects to the Emergency Department (ED) of a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan.</p> <p><em><strong>Methods:</strong></em> This is a retrospective chart review of patients under the age of 16 years with congenital cardiac defects presenting to the Emergency Department of Aga Khan University Hospital over a period of eighteen months, from January 2012 to June 2013. Study population was divided into two groups; first group constituted children with undiagnosed congenital cardiac defects, whereas second group constituted children with diagnosed congenial cardiac defects presented to ED. In&nbsp;previously diagnose cases each visit was counted as a separate encounter.</p> <p><em><strong>Results:</strong></em> Out of 133 children, 44 (33.5%) were diagnosed congenital cardiac disease for the first time (Group-1) in ED, while 89 (66.5%) children were diagnosed cases of congenital heart disease (Group-2). Among Group-1; main reasons for ED visits were cyanosis, cardiac failure, murmur evaluation and cardiogenic shock where as in Group-2; main presentations were cardiac failure, hyper cyanotic spells, gastroenteritis, lower respiratory tract infection, and post-operative issues. There were total 13 deaths.</p> <p><em><strong>Conclusion:</strong> </em>High index of suspicion is necessary for early diagnosis and management of children with congenital heart disease in the pediatric emergency department.</p> <p><strong>doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.3.1592</strong></p> <p><em><strong>How to cite this:</strong></em><br>Bano S, Akhtar S, Khan U. Pediatric congenital heart diseases: Patterns of presentation to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(3):333-337. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.3.1592</p> <p>This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p&gt;}, number={3}, journal={Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences}, author={Bano, Surraiya and Akhtar, Saleem and Khan, Uzma Rahim}, year={2020}, month={Mar.} }