Introduction. Congenital developmental anomalies, including congenital heart defects (CHDs), are the second leading cause of infant mortality in Russia. Key measures to reduce infant mortality due to CHDs include standardizing prenatal and postnatal diagnostics, establishing patient routing pathways to ensure access to specialized health care, and improving the quality of care at all stages. Currently, management challenges remain unresolved regarding the improvement of statistical reporting forms and CHD registries, digitalizing the tracking of cardiac surgery and organizing lifelong follow-up care for patients with CHD.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of implementing methodological recommendations for reducing CHD-related mortality across the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and to propose targets that reflect the improvement of the quality of health care for children with CHD.

Materials and methods. The analysis used data on the number of births in 2024 to estimate the expected number of children with CHD, information on the inclusion of health institutions in the routing scheme (13 federal and 9 regional centers), and indicators of organizational activities for fetal and neonatal CHD diagnosis and patient routing across 39 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Results. Over the past 35 years, infant mortality in Russia has decreased by 79.3%. Despite the reduction in the absolute number of cardiac surgeries for CHD between 2020 and 2025, there has been a pronounced and sustained decline in postoperative mortality across all key patient groups, indicating improved quality of surgical care and better perioperative patient management. The most significant progress has been achieved in infants under 1 year of age: the postoperative mortality rate decreased by nearly 2.5-fold. The article proposes target indicators for the quality of health care provided to children with CHD to be used as standards for healthcare management at the regional level.

Conclusion. Implementation of the methodological recommendations aimed at reducing infant mortality has improved the quality of health care provided to newborns with CHD and helped standardize diagnostic and treatment approaches across different constituent entities of the Russian Federation, with an emphasis on early detection of critical CHD. However, the lack of a unified data collection methodology limits the strength of the evidence base and complicates objective assessment of the situation. Introducing a digital registry for cardiac surgical interventions could partially address this issue and enhance the monitoring of care provided to children with CHD.

Introduction. The organization of specialized health care for children with urogenital disorders is one of the priority areas of modern healthcare. The effectiveness of the pediatric urology service is determined by staffing, the structure and performance indicators of the hospital bed capacity, patient routing, and the material and technical equipment of health institutions.

Aim: To assess the current state of the pediatric urology service in the Russian Federation, identify the main challenges, and define the key directions for its development.

Materials and methods. Annual federal statistical observation forms (Forms No. 47, 30, 12, 14, Russian Federation 2019–2025), regulatory legal acts, and analytical materials of the Federal State Autonomous Institution «National Medical Research Center of Children’s Health» of the Ministry of Health of Russia obtained within the framework of organizational and methodological support of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation over the specified period were analyzed.

Results. Between 2019 and 2025, the number of pediatric urology and andrology professionals has increased by 19.4%. The staffing level in the outpatient sector rose to 79.3%, yet the availability of specialists remains 6.2 times lower than the calculated target indicator. The number of outpatient visits increased by 15.5% compared to 2019, while the number of hospitalizations increased by 10.8%, with the average length of stay decrease to 6.3 bed-days. Deficiencies in the equipment of pediatric surgical inpatient facilities were identified: either the absence of basic video endoscopic equipment or a high need for its replacement. In 90% of the regions, existing decrees on routing of children with urogenital disorders require updating.

Conclusion. Despite the positive trends of the key indicators, the following challenges persist: staffing shortage in the outpatient sector; the need for material and technical provision in health institutions; and the development of up-to-date routing decrees. Priority fields for the service improvement include updating regional patient routing protocols, strengthening the outpatient workforce, modernizing hospital equipment, and implementing unified clinical approaches in practice.

Introduction. The mental development of preterm infants in early childhood depends on the gestational age at birth, the severity of the condition during the perinatal period, as well as of the consequences of perinatal disorders. The cornerstone of managing preterm infants in the recovery period is interdisciplinary collaboration between health and educational professionals and parents.

Aim: To assess the efficacy of psychological and corrective interventions for young children born prematurely.

Materials and methods. A single-centre, prospective, non-randomised cohort study included 73 preterm infants with sequelae of perinatal disorders, aged between 6 and 36 months of corrected age, who received comprehensive rehabilitation and restorative treatment in a day hospital. The rate and pattern of mental development were assessed using the ‘YаSLI’ methodology. The content of the remedial and educational support for each patient was individualised in accordance with the Federal State Educational Standard for Preschool Education.

Results. The group with development delay included 8 preterm infants with mild hypoxic-ischaemic injury to the central nervous system and development delay of 1–2 age-equivalent periods. The group with a slow rate of development comprised 36 preterm infants with development delay of 2–3 age-equivalent periods. The group with extremely slow rate of development consisted of 29 infants with the delay of ≥4 developmental periods relative to normative benchmarks. The assessment was carried out using the ‘YаSLI’ methodology. Following individualised remedial and educational interventions based on the Federal Adapted Preschool Education Programme for Children with Developmental Delay, improvement in the rate of mental development was observed in all children in the first group and in 20 children (55%) in the second group. In the third group, only 5 patients (20%) demonstrated positive developmental progress.

Conclusion. Early and systematic remedial education combined with ongoing enhancment of parents’ pedagogical competence, helps prevent the emergence of complex maladaptive behaviour patterns in children and contributes to the development of cognitive activity and social communication skills.

The guidelines for standardizing approaches to providing adequate nutrition for pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children were developed in accordance with the President’s List of Instructions following a State Council meeting on social support for families in the Russian Federation. The guidelines aim to improve the regulatory framework and enhance the effectiveness of organization of adequate nutrition for the above-mentioned categories of citizens, consistent with the priority areas of state policy in the field of maternal and child health. The document provides a systematic overview of the organizational, managerial, regulatory, and medical aspects of providing adequate nutrition to target population groups. Particular attention is given to unifying the legal frameworks, including the development of a multi-level system of regulatory acts, as well as allocation of powers among the executive bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The recommendations address financial and economic support, proposing a methodology for calculating the standard financial support per recipient. This enables the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to plan budget allocations taking into account regional specificities. Since the stated social support standard is implemented based on a physician’s opinion, is regionally specific, and is implemented in accordance with the legislation of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the document is recommended for use by the executive authorities of the constituent entities when developing and improving regulatory acts and programs for organizing the provision of adequate nutrition for pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children.

Currently the effectiveness of pediatric care is determined not only by the physician’s clinical competence but also by the quality of communication with patients and their legal representatives. A review of relevant literature, as well as extensive clinical and educational experience, confirms the сrucial role of professional communication in building trusting relationships between the physician, the child and child family. In medicine, professional communication encompasses purposeful actions that enable physicians to address clinical and professional tasks effectively, including eliciting complaints and medical history, structuring information, and explaining it in an accessible manner. The goal of such communication is not to try to please the patient or prevent complaints, but to build trusting relationships that enable to achieve the most effective health outcomes, including in complex clinical or emotional situations. From the perspective of healthcare service as a whole the ability to communicate clearly and understandably plays an important role in promoting public awareness of health-related issues and improving the population’s health literacy concerning disease prevention and early detection.
This study analyzes the application of basic communication skills in partnership development in order to resolve medical issues and minimize psycho-emotional stress for the child, parents and healthcare professional.

Currently, the issues of sarcopenia and/or developing sarcopenic obesity in patients with severe injuries are receiving increasing attention. Weight loss, primarily due to reduced muscle mass, is a common comorbid condition in patients with severe illnesses and injuries and is closely associated with an unfavorable disease prognosis as well as with complications that may limit subsequent active rehabilitation. A major obstacle to analyzing sarcopenia development following trauma is the lack of consensus on its definition and diagnostic criteria.
At present, assessment of patient’s body composition is limited to anthropometric and radiological modalities, which only allow confirmation of the presence of sarcopenia. However, identification of prognostic biomarkers and biological phenotypes in injured patients allow to detect mild metabolic changes at the early stages of pathological processes. For example, the plasma metabolomic profile can directly reflect metabolic disorders associated with muscle atrophy, as plasma is the main carrier of metabolites. The present review analyzes studies on laboratory assessment of nutritional status and skeletal muscle condition in patients who have sustained severe trauma, as well as to the experimental works animal studies evaluating levels of individual amino acids in blood plasma and their effects on muscle mass.
The review underscores the need to identify early diagnostic criteria for monitoring body composition in patients after severe trauma, which is essential for developing new therapeutic strategies aimed at correcting the identified disorders.

Lissencephaly is a severe cortical malformation associated with impaired neuronal migration. Clinically, it may manifest with early-onset epileptic seizures, marked psychomotor developmental delay, muscle tone abnormalities, and persistent motor deficit []. PAFAH1B1-associated forms are characterized by a broad phenotypic spectrum, including feeding difficulties, poor head control, spasticity, visual impairment, and a high frequency of drug-resistant epileptic seizures.
The presented case demonstrates a congenital brain malformation associated with severe motor impairment (GMFCS V/ MACS V), drug-resistant structural multifocal epilepsy, pseudobulbar syndrome, chronic aspiration syndrome, nutritional insufficiency, and neurogenic dysfunction of the pelvic organs.
The aim of this case report is to demonstrate the importance of comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment in a patient with lissencephaly, drug-resistant epilepsy, and multiple somatic complications, as well as the need for careful interpretation of genetic findings until familial validation of the identified variant is completed.

Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome is a rare congenital anomaly of the hypothalamic-pituitary region, often leading to multiple anterior pituitary hormone deficiency. Accumulating research postulates that hypothalamic-pituitary defects depend on variant changes in genes responsible for pituitary morphogenesis, particularly during early embryogenesis.
We present a clinical case of a patient with an identified variant substitution in the GLI2 gene associated with impaired hypothalamic-pituitary development. The patient has been diagnosed with secondary hypothyroidism and growth hormone deficiency, along with signs of possible hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.
Clinical features, current views on etiology, and the critical need for early diagnosis and long-term follow-up to detect new hormonal deficiencies and timely adjust replacement therapy are discussed.