TY - JOUR T1 - Lucina JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood JO - Arch Dis Child SP - 770 LP - 770 VL - 90 IS - 7 A2 - , Y1 - 2005/07/01 UR - http://adc.bmj.com/content/90/7/770.abstract N2 - The Senning atrial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries was introduced in 1958 and the Mustard procedure a few years later. Since the 1980s these operations have been largely replaced by the arterial switch procedure. Nevertheless, there are many people who have had the atrial switch operations and the long term outcomes are still of great interest. In Barcelona ( Heart2005;91:652–6OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text) 137 patients were followed up for an average of almost 17 years. Late mortality was 5%, many of the deaths being sudden. The occurrence of supraventricular tachyarrhythmias and a poor cardiac functional class were both associated with a poorer prognosis. Most patients, however, (96%) had good cardiac function (New York Heart Association functional class I or II) during follow up. Only 5% of patients needed reintervention and only 15% had right ventricular systolic dysfunction. The long term results of atrial switch procedures are good but might be improved by better management of arrhythmias and better detection of right ventricular dysfunction. There is epidemiological evidence of genetic factors in the aetiology of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (CIBD) and the first CIBD susceptibility gene (NOD2/CARD15) has been identified. Researchers in France ( Gut2005;54:357–63OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text) have looked for environmental risk factors in children with CIBD. The study included 222 children with Crohn’s disease, 60 with ulcerative colitis, and 282 controls matched for age, sex, and place of residence. They found that the risk of … ER -