Pediheart: Pediatric Cardiology Today

This week’s replay episode reviews the notion of the underrepresented in medicine physician and the decision to pursue pediatric cardiology. How would improved representation amongst the congenital heart work force result in better outcomes for patients? How does a diverse workforce foster improved communication with patients? What are some practical steps that can be employed to improve representation in the field? We speak with  Dr. Ogochuckwu M Ezeoke Cox, MD of U. Mass about recent essay on this vital topic.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-023-03144-7

This week we review a recent book entitled Reimagining a Child’s Heart: The Lone Pines of Congenital Cardiology which was recently published by Springer and which was authored by Dr. Thomas J. Kulik and Dr. Macdonald Dick. Drs. Kulik and Dick recount the innumerable steps in discovery that led to what the authors view as one of the pinnacles of achievement in our field, namely the palliation of children with HLHS and single ventricle disease. Dr. Kulik tragically passed suddenly in 2021 but his friend and colleague Dr. Dick completed the book that Dr. Kulik had spent over a decade toiling over. This week we sit down with Dr. Dick and also, briefly, Dr. Roberta Williams and Dr. Kulik's wife Ms. Linda Kulik to discuss the book, Dr. Kulik's legacy, mentorship and more. Dr. Dick also shares with us what he believes are the keys to a successful retirement. This is a rare opportunity to listen to some of the truest pioneers of our field, 'Lone Pines" themselves share their insights and warm stories. 

For those interested, this is one of many sites to obtain the book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/3031886070?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

Also mentioned in this episode are 2 prior episodes including our conversation with Dr. Michael Freed and our conversation with Ms. Patricia Meisol and links are below:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pediheart-podcast-203-a-conversation-with-dr-michael-freed/id1341472214?i=1000556610155

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pediheart-podcast-320-the-extraordinary-life/id1341472214?i=1000677938143

This week we discuss a recent report from the team at SickKids in Toronto on minimally invasive cardiac surgery. What sorts of operations are most common for this approach? Why are length of ICU and length of hospitalization periods lower in this surgical cohort than more traditional midline sternotomy approaches? How does one train a surgeon to perform these operations if the surgical exposure is so small, allowing only the priimary surgeon to see the majority of the surgery? What are the limits of this sort of surgical approach? These are amongst the questions posed to the first author of this work, Associate Professor of Surgery at University of Toronto, Dr. Christoph Haller. 
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2025.12.009

This week we review a recent report using data from the IMPACT registry assessing the rates of major adverse events during cath of the pediatric cardiomyopathy patient. How commonly are complications encountered and who is at greatest risk? How much additional risk is incurred by performance of an endomyocardial biopsy at the time of catheterization? Pediatric critical care expert, Dr. Alejandro Martinez Herrada of Nicklaus Children's Hospital provides his insights this week. 

doi: 10.1161/JAHA.125.047780.

This week we delve again into the world of adult congenital heart disease and specifically the realm of biomarkers when we review a recent report of the proteomics of the adult Fontan patient. What is proteomics and how can this inform our understanding of the pathophysiology and adaptive pathways of the Fontan circulation? Are there meaningful differences in the patterns of protein expression between the adult Fontan patient and control 2 ventricle subjects? What might account for differences and how can we understand these differences to explain outcomes in the Fontan adult patient? We speak with the first and senior authors of this week's work, Professor Alexander Opotowsky of the University of Cincinnati and Mr. Ismael Assi who is a Sarnoff Fellow and soon to be 4th year medical student at the University of Cincinnati. 
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacadv.2026.102810