This December Issue of Cardiology in the Young represents the 12th annual publication generated from the two meetings that compose “HeartWeek in Florida”. “HeartWeek in Florida”, the joint collaborative project sponsored by the Cardiac Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, together with Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute of Saint Petersburg, Florida, averages over 1000 attendees every year and is now recognised as one of the major planks of continuing medical and nursing education for those working in the fields of diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease in the foetus, neonate, infant, child, and adult. “HeartWeek in Florida” combines the International Symposium on Congenital Heart Disease, organised by All Children’s Hospital and Johns Hopkins Medicine and entering its 15th year, with the Annual Postgraduate Course in Pediatric Cardiovascular Disease, organised by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and entering its 18th year. This December, 2014 Issue of Cardiology in the Young features highlights of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute’s 14th Annual International Symposium on Congenital Heart Disease, which was held at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, Saint Petersburg, Florida, from 15–18 February, 2014. This Symposium was co-sponsored by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) and had as its special focus “Diseases of the Cardiac Valves from the Fetus to the Adult”. We acknowledge the tremendous contributions made to paediatric and congenital cardiac care by Duke Cameron and Joel Brenner, and therefore we dedicate this December, 2014 HeartWeek Issue of Cardiology in the Young to them. Duke Cameron is Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University and Cardiac Surgeon-in-Charge at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Joel Brenner is Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University and Director of the Taussig Heart Center at Bloomberg Children’s Center, The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Together, Joel and Duke lead the proud paediatric and congenital cardiac programme at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Although closure of ductus arteriosus requires multiple intriguing cell signalling pathways, current treatment options merely act through cyclooxygenase inhibition. Expectedly, medical management of ductus arteriosus is quite far away from optimum and there is an ongoing debate on its efficiency and safety. The ideal therapeutic agent for patent ductus arteriosus should target vascular remodelling and support the arrested molecular steps that should completely eventuate during anatomical closure.

Platelet-rich plasma injection, which has been used as a treatment alternative for many musculoskeletal conditions, can be a promising solution in this context by compensating the relative platelet dysfunction in preterms and providing a convenient microenvironment for proper cellular communication for ductal closure.

First, by inducing hyaluronan synthase, platelet-rich plasma can induce mount formation in the intima, which is the significant defective milestone in preterms. Second, by providing platelet-derived growth factor, it can further stimulate platelet agregation and occlusion of the lumen. Finally, it can provide an increment in local vascular endothelial growth factor and transforming growth factor-β levels, which cannot be achieved because of insufficient intramural hypoxia. Migration of the vascular smooth muscles would further be triggered by transforming growth factor-β and vascular endothelial growth factor, aiding a major contribution to ductal closure.

Above and beyond all other considerations, opportunity of local application would render maximum effectiveness and minimum side effects.

Lower limb ischaemia is the most frequent complication of cardiac catheterisation in children. It is often overlooked, but it can cause significant disability and may limit arterial access sites to repeat diagnostic or interventional catheterisations. A narrative review of the literature on arterial access site thrombosis in children was carried out with a special focus on current evidence that supports preventive and treatment strategies. Anticoagulation, thrombolysis, and thrombectomy have been used successfully to treat arterial access site thrombosis. However, it is not completely established which is the role of each treatment modality and what is the most appropriate timing to deliver it. Therefore, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies have to be prospectively investigated, particularly for clarifying the role of new pharmacologic interventions and of percutaneous and surgical thrombectomy in the current era.

Ebstein's anomaly is a complex congenital disorder of the tricuspid valve. Presentation in neonatal life and (early) childhood is common. Disease severity and clinical features vary widely and require a patient-tailored treatment. In this review, we describe the natural history of children and adolescents with Ebstein's anomaly, including symptoms and signs presenting at diagnosis. Current classification strategies of Ebstein's anomaly are discussed. We report on diagnostic methods for establishing the severity of disease that might enhance decision on the timing of surgical intervention. Furthermore, we describe different surgical options for severely ill neonates and multiple surgical interventions after infancy. Only with ample knowledge and understanding of the above, this complex and diverse group of patients can be correctly treated in order to improve not only duration, but also quality of life.

Anomalous origin of a coronary artery from the aorta is a potentially serious anomaly that occurs in about 0.1–0.2% of the population. This percentage is small; however, it translates into about 4000 annual births with these anomalies. The clinical presentation of these anomalies is rare, and hence most are and will remain asymptomatic. The various anatomic anomalies are described, with anomalous origin of the left coronary artery that then passes between the aorta and pulmonary artery being the most serious of these anomalies. The pathophysiology resulting from these anomalies is described, as are methods for identifying those who require treatment; however, we still do not know the best methods of determining which patients need treatment.

Cardiology in the Young is devoted to cardiovascular issues affecting the young, and older patients with congenital heart disease, or with other cardiac diseases acquired during childhood. The journal serves the interests of all professionals concerned with these topics. By design, the journal is international and multidisciplinary in its approach, and members of the editorial board take an active role in its mission, helping to make it an indispensable reference for paediatric and congenital cardiac care. All aspects of paediatric and congenital cardiac care are covered within the journal. The content includes original articles, brief reports, editorials, reviews, and papers devoted to continuing professional development. High-quality colour figures are published on a regular basis, and without charge to the authors. Regular supplements are published containing the abstracts of the annual meetings of the Association for European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology, along with other occasional supplements. These supplements are supplied free to subscribers.

The vision of Cardiology in the Young is to use print and electronic media to improve paediatric and congenital cardiac care.

The mission of Cardiology in the Young is to be a premier global journal for paediatric and congenital cardiac care – an essential journal that spans the domains of patient care, research, education, and advocacy, and also spans geographical, temporal, and subspeciality boundaries.

Cardiology in the Young was officially launched in December, 1990. The late Lucio Parenzan was Editor-in-Chief from 1990 through Volume 4, Number 1, January 1994. Professor Robert Anderson and Giancarlo Crupi then shared the Editor-in-Chief position until the end of 1995. Then, from 1995 through 2007, Professor Robert Anderson served as the sole Editor-in-Chief of Cardiology in the Young. Edward Baker, MD, FRCP, FRCPCH, served as Editor-in-Chief of Cardiology in the Young from 2007 to 2013. In January, 2014, Jeffrey P. Jacobs, MD, FACS, FACC, FCCP, became Editor-in-Chief of Cardiology in the Young.

Jeffrey P. Jacobs, MD, FACS, FACC, FCCP is Director of the Andrews/Daicoff Cardiovascular Program at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute and Professor of Cardiac Surgery in the Division of Cardiac Surgery of the Department of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University. He is also Surgical Director of the Heart Transplantation Program and Director of the Extracorporeal Life Support Program at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute. Dr Jacobs has been a cardiothoracic surgeon at All Children’s Hospital since 1998.

Congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries are present in 0.2–1.4% of the general population. These anomalies represent one of the most confusing issues in the field of cardiology and challenges for interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons if the anomalies are unrecognised. Double right coronary artery is one of the rarest coronary arteries. Previously, the probability of developing atherosclerotic changes in patients with a double right coronary artery was considered to be equal to that in those without it. In reality, however, a high prevalence of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease was found in patients with a double right coronary artery originating from a single ostium after our comprehensive literature search through the PubMed database. Owing to the fact that double right coronary artery is both a congenital and potentially atherosclerotic coronary artery disease at diagnosis, coronary intervention or cardiac operation is more complicated than previously believed. Individuals with a double right coronary artery may be unaware of its presence until an accidental finding during coronary angiography or cardiac operation and are at risk for unsuspected complications of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease or during cardiac operation. Therefore, it is important to obtain information on the anatomic variants of this congenital coronary anomaly in patients who are undergoing either coronary intervention, aortic root operation or myocardial revascularisation. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive article to discuss the anomalies and their clinical implications.

With the advent of improved medical and surgical care in congenital heart disease, there has been an increase in the number of patients who survive into adulthood, giving rise to a new patient population ‘Adults with congenital heart disease’. In the past, morbidity and mortality were the primary concerns for this group. However, with improvements in outcome attention has shifted to other factors such as psychosocial and cognitive functioning. This paper reviews the literature on the cognitive functioning in adult congenital heart disease patients. A total of five relevant articles were retrieved via electronic searches of six databases, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PsychINFO, and PubMed. The results displayed a consensus on the presence of some cognitive difficulties in adult congenital heart disease patients. The aetiology of cognitive dysfunctions appears to be multifactorial. The literature is limited by the very small number of studies looking at adults with congenital heart disease, with the majority focusing on cognitive functioning among children with congenital heart disease. However, the presence of cognitive dysfunctions and the resulting impact on the patient's day to day lives warrant for a more detailed and prospective research to enhance the understanding of its aetiology and impact.

Advances made in the understanding of the molecular biology of the cardiac valves have been truly spectacular. Not all of those investigating these aspects, however, have an appropriate understanding of the underlying anatomy. Partly, this reflects problems in describing the components of the various valves, a difficulty also emphasised by surgeons who repair or replace the valves. In this review, we describe briefly the overall anatomy of the cardiac valves, pointing to their similarities and differences. We then suggest that uniform terms can be developed to account for the components of the valves, treating them as complexes that guard the atrioventricular and ventriculo-arterial junctions. The atrioventricular valvar complex is made up of an annulus, leaflets, tendinous cords, and papillary muscles. The tension apparatus is required to hold the leaflets together against the force of ventricular systole. The ventriculo-arterial complex is also based on the leaflets, but supported within the valvar sinuses, and limited distally by the sinutubular junction. It is the semilunar nature of the leaflets that underscores their snug closure during ventricular diastole. The complexes thus defined can be separated to produce paired valves in the normal arrangement, or to produce common valves in the congenitally malformed hearts. Knowledge of development now permits accurate inferences to be made regarding the origin of the various components, and their relevance to valvar disease. The valvar leaflets are developed from the endocardial cushions formed in the atrioventricular canal and the outflow tract by a process of endothelial-to-mesenchymal transformation. The papillary muscles of the atrioventricular valves are then derived from the trabecular layer of the developing ventricular walls, whereas the sinuses of the ventriculo-arterial valves are formed by additional growth of the non-myocardial tissues, concomitant with excavation of the outflow cushions to form the leaflets.

First trimester sonography is a widely used technique to examine the foetus early in pregnancy. The desire to recognise complex anatomy already in early developmental stages stresses the need for a thorough knowledge of basic developmental processes as well as recognition of cardiac compartments based on their morphology. In this paper, we describe the possibilities and limitations of sonographic assessment of the foetal heart between 10 and 14 weeks of gestation and correlate this to morphology. Examples of the most commonly detected congenital anomalies are atrioventricular septal defects, transposition of the great arteries, and hypoplastic left heart, which are shown in this paper.