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Objective: To compare efficacy of nebulised 3% hypertonic saline with 0.9% normal saline for treatment of acute bronchiolitis in children up to 2 years of age in terms of mean days of hospital stay and clinical severity score. Methodology: This Randomized controlled trial (RCT) was done in department of Paediatrics, POF Hospital Wah Cantt from 1st November 2015 to 31st March 2016. Children in group 1 were nebulized with 3% hypertonic saline and group 2 with 0.9% normal saline. Results: In group 1 the mean clinical severity score at the time of admission was 8.46 ± 1.10 and in group 2, 8.7 ± 0.98. In group 1 the mean clinical severity score after 3 days was 2.7 ± 0.87 and in group 2, 4.4 ± 0.999. The mean length of hospital stays for group 1 was 4.23 days ± 1.2 and in group 2 it was 6.4 days ± 1.4. Mean of clinical clarity score after 3 days and mean of length of hospital stay was compared between both groups for which the p value was significant. Conclusion: Hypertonic saline (HS) nebulization has shown improved outcome in bronchiolitis. More studies are required to see the outcome of this method of treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study has been carried out to determine the frequency of left ventricular thrombi in dilated cardiomyopathy patients presenting in tertiary care hospitals in Punjab. Methods: This descriptive case series was carried out at Arif Memorial Teaching Hospital Lahore. This study involved 150 children of both genders aged between 4-12 years diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. These children underwent echocardiographic screening for left ventricular thrombi (mass filling the ventricular cavity and distinct from normal endocardium). The frequency of left ventricular thrombi was noted and compared across various subgroups of children based on age, gender and BMI. Written informed consent was obtained from parents of every child. Results: The mean age of the children was 8.5±2.4 years. There were 98 (65.3%) boys and 52 (34.7%) girls with a male-tofemale ratio of 1.9:1. The mean BMI of these children was 26.9±3.0 Kg/m² and 29 (19.3%) children were obese. 63 (42.0%) children had left ventricular thrombi. There was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of left ventricular thrombi across various subgroups of children based on age (p-value=0.979), gender (p-value=0.956), and BMI (p-value=0.731). Conclusion: In the present study, a substantial proportion of children with dilated cardiomyopathy had left ventricular thrombi which due to the associated risk of thromboembolism and CVA warrant routine echocardiographic screening of such children so that timely identification and anticipated management may improve the outcome of children with dilated cardiomyopathy in future pediatric practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]