Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr 2019 Feb 1. Epub 2019 Feb 1.

University Hospital Erlangen, Department of Radiology, Maximiliansplatz 1, 91054, Erlangen, Germany; Imaging Science Institute Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. Electronic address:

Background: Aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of ventricular septal defects (VSD) using high pitch computed tomography angiography (CTA) of the chest in children below 1 year of age, compared to the intraoperative findings and echocardiography.

Methods: Out of 154 patients that underwent Dual-Source CTA of the chest using a high-pitch protocol at low tube voltages (70-80 kV), 55 underwent surgical repair of a VSD (median age 8 days, range 1-348 days). The margins of the VSDs and their relation to the surrounding structures were reproduced by en-face views using multiplanar reformations (MPR). Read More

Congenit Heart Dis 2019 Jan 25. Epub 2019 Jan 25.

Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.

Objective: To investigate the status of body mass index (BMI) in adult people with congenital heart disease (ACHD).

Methods: Five hundred thirty-nine adults with CHD (53.8% men) were seen in the outpatient clinic from 2013 to 2015 and compared to a reference population (n = 1737). Read More

Indian J Radiol Imaging 2018 Oct-Dec;28(4):433-435

Department of Radiodiagnosis, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India.

In patients with pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect (PA/VSD), a coronary artery being the primary source of pulmonary blood flow is a rare entity. We describe two cases of PA/VSD with coronary-to-pulmonary artery fistula with emphasis on the role of Computed Tomographic Angiography (CTA) in depicting all the sources of pulmonary blood supply, to predict surgical management and need for unifocalization of Major Aortopulmonary Collateral Arteries (MAPCA's). Read More

Heart 2019 Jan 19. Epub 2019 Jan 19.

Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

Question: The aetiology of his cMRI findings is most likely:Pulmonary hypertension from chronic left-to-right shunting.Infundibular obstruction from anterior deviation of the conal septum.Subinfundibular obstruction from hypertrophied muscle bundles. Read More

Ann Card Anaesth 2019 Jan-Mar;22(1):41-46

Department of Cardiac Anaesthesia, Institute of Post Graduation Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, India.

Background: Atrial septal defect (ASD) is a common congenital heart disease associated with volume overload of Right ventricle (RV) with variable effect on Left ventricle (LV). Two-dimensional (2D) Strain analysis is a new tool for objective analysis of myocardial function. This prospective study evaluated the systolic function of right and left ventricle by conventional 2D echo and strain echo and measured changes in cardiac hemodynamics that occurred in patients of ASD before and after correction. Read More

Clin Anat 2019 Jan 9. Epub 2019 Jan 9.

Department of Cardiac Ultrasound, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.

The limitations of traditional two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography in accurate diagnosis of ventricular septal defect (VSD) prompt the necessity of spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) technology. Our study attemped to reconstruct the volume data of VSD using STIC rendering mode, and dynamically display the specific location and surrounding structure of VSD, in order to assist conventional 2D echocardiography. A total of 20 fetuses diagnosed as VSD using 2D echocardiography were enrolled in our study. Read More

J Cardiovasc Imaging 2018 Dec 20;26(4):256-257. Epub 2018 Nov 20.

Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

[This corrects the article on p. 165 in vol. 26, PMID: 30310884. Read More

Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth 2018 Dec 29:1089253218821382. Epub 2018 Dec 29.

3 Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.

Common arterial trunk (CAT), or truncus arteriosus, is a rare form of cyanotic congenital heart disease and is highly associated with DiGeorge syndrome (microdeletion 22q11.2). Prenatal diagnosis is highly feasible, allowing proper delivery planning and postnatal management. Read More

Echocardiography 2019 02 25;36(2):411-414. Epub 2018 Dec 25.

Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Stanford University and University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California.

Background: Aortopulmonary window is a rare conotruncal defect that is often associated with other congenital heart defects. We present a patient with a previously unreported combination of aortopulmonary window with tetralogy of Fallot with an absent conal septum.

Case Presentation: A term, 2. Read More

Circ Cardiovasc Imaging 2018 Nov;11(11):e008326

Coronary and Structural Heart Diseases Department, Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland (R.P., C.K., M.D.).

Taiwan J Obstet Gynecol 2018 Dec;57(6):885-889

Taiji Clinic, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address:

Objective: To present an accurate prenatal diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta with ventricular septal defect and to illustrate how early diagnosis in prenatal period with proper referral and counseling can optimize management.

Case Report: A case with coarctation of the aorta with ventricle septal defect was found to have an abnormal three vessel view at 12 weeks, and with close follow-ups, coarctation of the aorta with ventricle septal defect was diagnosed at 24 weeks. Following the support from a multidisciplinary team that provided counseling, diagnosis, and follow-ups, the pregnant woman decided to continue with the pregnancy and had a vaginal delivery at a medical center. Read More

Diagn Interv Imaging 2019 Feb 7;100(2):109-116. Epub 2018 Dec 7.

Congenital and Pediatric Cardiology Unit, Centre de Référence Maladies Cardiaques Congénitales Complexes-M3C, hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, AP-HP, 75006 Paris, France; Université Paris-Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75005 Paris, France.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare non-invasive high-spatial-resolution postmortem cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and autopsy findings for evaluating the septal insertion of atrioventricular valves in fetuses.

Materials And Methods: Five fetal heart specimens including two normal hearts, one heart with complete atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) and two hearts with linear insertion of atrioventricular valves (LIAVV; gestational age 17 to 34 weeks) were studied with cardiac MRI using a 4.7 T MRI scanner without sample preparation. Read More

Medicine (Baltimore) 2018 Nov;97(48):e13307

Department of Cardiovascular Ultrasound, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, China.

The prognosis of right heart enlargement varies according to different etiologies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of echocardiogram, surgical treatment, chromosome and prognosis for fetal right heart enlargement.The foetal echocardiogram was performed on 3987 pregnant women, and then 88 fetuses with right heart enlargement were identified. Read More

Ann Thorac Surg 2018 Nov 8. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Pediatric Group, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Children's Medical Center Dallas, 1935 Medical District Drive, Dallas, TX 75235.

Perventricular ventricular septal defect closure has become an accepted method for treatment of some muscular and perimembranous ventricular septal defects. We report the case of a child who developed left ventricular pseudoaneurysms after perventricular closure of a ventricular septal defect performed at 3 months of age. At 18 months, the ventricular pseudoaneurysms were closed surgically. Read More

Echocardiography 2018 12 9;35(12):2113-2116. Epub 2018 Nov 9.

Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.

Cor Triatriatum Dexter (CTD) is a rare congenital anomaly involving the systemic venous valves. Failure of regression of the right-sided sinus venosus valve leads to abnormal septation of the right atrium and a variety of right atrial and tricuspid valve obstructive lesions. The presentation can be varied ranging from asymptomatic to persistent neonatal cyanosis. Read More

J Clin Ultrasound 2019 Feb 30;47(2):88-94. Epub 2018 Oct 30.

Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Kyungpook National University Children's Hospital, Daegu, Republic of Korea.

Purpose: We evaluated ventricular rotation, torsion, and strain changes in infants using preoperative and postoperative M-mode echocardiography after early surgery for symptomatic ventricular septal defects (VSD).

Methods: Thirty-five patients with VSD underwent vector velocity imaging echocardiography before and after open heart surgery. Their rotational variables were compared with 18 controls. Read More

J Pediatr Orthop 2019 Mar;39(3):e190-e194

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.

Design: Retrospective analyses of congenital scoliosis patients at 2 tertiary care pediatric hospitals.

Objective: This study objectives were (1) to report the rates of anomalies of 10 organ systems in congenital scoliosis patients and (2) to determine whether the presence of a single organ system anomaly increases the rate of nonspinal organ system defects.

Summary Of Background Data: Intraspinal, cardiac, renal, and gastrointestinal anomalies have been reported to occur at higher rates in congenital scoliosis than the normal population. Read More

Int Heart J 2018 Nov 25;59(6):1480-1484. Epub 2018 Oct 25.

Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center.

In patients with an atrial septal defect (ASD) and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), to avoid the development of acute left heart failure (HF) and an increase in myocardial oxygen consumption following ASD closure, it is conceivable that coronary artery revascularization should be performed prior to ASD closure. We report the case of a 67-year-old man with a large secundum ASD and LV ejection fraction of 15.6% resulting from severe ischemic cardiomyopathy and triple-vessel CAD, both of which contributed to biventricular HF characterized by high left-to-right shunt (Qp:Qs of 7. Read More

Zhonghua Xin Xue Guan Bing Za Zhi 2018 Oct;46(10):804-809

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dalian Children's Hospital, Dalian 116012, China.

To investigate the safety and efficacy of percutaneous intervention of children with combined congenital heart abnormality solely guided by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) . From September 2015 to June 2017, 21 children with combined congenital heart abnormality undergoing percutaneous interventional guided by TTE in Fuwai hospital were enrolled in our study, and the clinical data were retrospective analyzed. The atrial septal defect(ASD) closure, ventricular septal defect(VSD) closure, patent ductus arteriosus(PDA) closure or balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty were performed under the guidance of TTE. Read More

Ann Thorac Surg 2018 Oct 23. Epub 2018 Oct 23.

Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, The Labatt Family Heart Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address:

Background: We hypothesized that reconstructed pulmonary artery (PA) size and postrepair PA pressure are associated with airway compression (AC) after complete unifocalization for pulmonary atresia, ventricular septal defects, and major aortopulmonary collateral arteries.

Methods: Complete unifocalization was performed in 48 consecutive patients between 2000 and 2016. Clinical course and outcome were reviewed, predictors for AC were identified by logistic regression, and the freedom from death was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier method. Read More

Am J Cardiol 2019 Jan 26;123(1):169-174. Epub 2018 Sep 26.

Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin. Electronic address:

Sudden cardiac death in a young healthy athlete is a rare but catastrophic event. The American Heart Association preparticipation screening guidelines recommend a focused history and physical without routine imaging or electrocardiogram screening. We hypothesized that a focused echocardiogram can identify structural abnormalities that may lead to sudden cardiac death in athletes, which might otherwise go undetected by history and physical. Read More

Taiwan J Obstet Gynecol 2018 Oct;57(5):734-738

Department of Medical Research, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Bioengineering, Tatung University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Objective: We present prenatal diagnosis of a familial 5p14.3-p14.1 deletion in a fetus with congenital heart disease on prenatal ultrasound. Read More

Eur Heart J 2018 Oct 16. Epub 2018 Oct 16.

Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery Unit, Hospital Virgen del Rocio, Seville, Spain.

J Cardiovasc Imaging 2018 Sep 18;26(3):165-174. Epub 2018 Sep 18.

Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Background: Transcatheter device closure of ventricular septal defect (VSD) has become an attractive alternative to surgery. We report here on our early experiences of transcatheter closure of VSD using Cocoon devices, which are now available in Korea.

Methods: We reviewed the medical records and angiographic images of 13 patients who underwent transcatheter closure of VSD with a Cocoon occluder at Samsung Medical Center. Read More

J Thorac Dis 2018 Sep;10(Suppl 24):S2966-S2974

Department of Paediatric and Adult Congenital Cardiology, Bordeaux University Hospital (CHU), F-33600 Pessac, France.

As for any preclinical development of new implantable device, bench testing has been followed by experimental studies on large animal models for the development of atrial septal defect closure devices. Various models have been used according to studied species (porcine, ovine or canine model) and whether the septal defect was percutaneously or surgically created. Animal models of percutaneous atrial septal defect closure aim to assess the healing process and device endothelialisation, as well as the development of magnetic resonance imaging guided procedures, the short-term effects of volume overload on right ventricular contractility through haemodynamic studies and the understanding of other complications such as nickel hypersensitivity. Read More

Ann Pediatr Cardiol 2018 Sep-Dec;11(3):328-329

Department of Cardiology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.

A 2-month-old baby with ventricular septal defect and pulmonary atresia was found to have coronary-to-pulmonary artery collaterals. Cardiac computed tomography confirmed the coronary collaterals and showed the absence of other systemic to pulmonary artery collaterals. Although these collaterals do not cause coronary ischemia, it is important to delineate them by accurate imaging to plan the appropriate surgical strategy. Read More

Ann Pediatr Cardiol 2018 Sep-Dec;11(3):308-311

Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, California, USA.

An intramural ventricular septal defect (IVSD) is a type of interventricular communication that can occur following biventricular repair of a conotruncal malformation. There have been no previous reports depicting the actual pathologic anatomy of this defect. We describe two cases of IVSDs with their clinical imaging and postmortem pathology. Read More

J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 2019 Jan 31;89:9-12. Epub 2018 Aug 31.

Tissue Mechanics Laboratory, The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States. Electronic address:

Objective: Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the leading cause of pediatric mortality, with many cases affecting the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) or pulmonary valve (PV). Understanding the mechanics of the disease condition can provide insight into development of durable repair techniques and bioengineered replacement devices. This work presents a mechanical and structural analysis of the pulmonary valve of two pediatric cases. Read More

Congenit Heart Dis 2018 Sep 19;13(5):782-787. Epub 2018 Sep 19.

The Lillie Frank Abercrombie Section of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Background: Congenital coronary artery fistula is a rare coronary anomaly. Most commonly, such fistulae drain into the right side of the heart or the pulmonary artery. Children with coronary artery fistulae are generally asymptomatic, although they may have left ventricular enlargement in the setting of a moderate sized left to right shunt. Read More

Congenit Heart Dis 2018 Nov 19;13(6):1045-1049. Epub 2018 Sep 19.

Department of Pediatrics (Cardiology), University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Objective: Applications of three-dimensional (3D) printed models in medicine include preprocedure planning, patient education, and clinical training. Reproducing complex anatomy as a 3D printed model can be useful for understanding congenital heart defects (CHD). We hypothesized that using 3D printed models during didactic sessions with resident physicians will improve trainees' understanding of CHD. Read More

J Heart Valve Dis 2017 11;26(6):738-740

Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA.

Adult congenital heart diseases present a unique challenge in assessing right-sided cardiac chambers, where pressures can be mistakenly calculated using standard echocardiographic formulae. A challenging case is presented of a combined inlet ventricular septal defect and ventriculo-atrial Gerbode defect. The diagnosis of such adult congenital heart diseases requires an in-depth understanding of cardiac pathophysiology and hemodynamics. Read More

J Heart Valve Dis 2017 11;26(6):616-623

Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.

Background: Aortic valve prolapse (AVP) and aortic regurgitation (AR) can develop in a subset of patients with ventricular septal defect (VSD). The incidence and progression of AVP and AR with VSD at long-term follow up was evaluated.

Methods: The records of 2,275 patients with isolated VSD who had been diagnosed using echocardiography at the present authors' institution between 1988 and 2014 were reviewed. Read More

J Card Surg 2018 10 11;33(10):691-692. Epub 2018 Sep 11.

Cardiothoracic Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.

World J Pediatr Congenit Heart Surg 2018 09;9(5):496-503

1 Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Universite catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.

Background: Several techniques have been described to correct coarctation associated with distal arch hypoplasia. However, in neonates, residual gradients are frequently encountered and influence long-term outcome. We reviewed our experience with an alternative technique of repair combining carotid-subclavian angioplasty and extended end-to-end anastomosis. Read More

Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging 2018 11;19(11):1286

Department of Imaging, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital IRCSS, Piazza San't Onofrio 4, Rome, Italy.

Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2018 Aug 13. Epub 2018 Aug 13.

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.

A 6-month-old infant with a double outlet right ventricle, doubly committed ventricular septal defect, and right ventricle outflow tract (RVOT) stenosis underwent intracardiac repair with RVOT reconstruction using a fresh decellularized allograft derived from a 1-year-old heart transplant recipient in Japan. Early postoperative evaluation via echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging revealed that the pulmonary allograft and cardiac function were stable. This is the first case report on using a decellularized heart valve, which was resected from a heart transplant recipient, for primary repair of congenital heart disease in Japan. Read More

Hell J Nucl Med 2018 May-Aug;21(2):134-139

Department of Nuclear Medicine, The First People's Hospital of Foshan, Foshan 528000, Guangdong, China .

Objective: Conventional Single-photon emission tomography (SPET) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is performed in the supine position range RAO 45-LPO 45, but the effect of other acquisition arcs on imaging quality have not been well described. In this study, we compared the radioactivity over left ventricle walls as measured by different acquisition arcs to identify the best specific applications.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 125 low-risk coronary heart disease patients underwent technetium-99m methoxy isobutyl isonitrile (Tc-MIBI) stress MPI, of which 52 received 360 acquisition with reconstruction using different 180 projections and the remaining 73 received conventional 180 (LPO 45-RAO 45) and left-side 180 (POST 180-ANT 0) acquisition consecutively. Read More

BMC Med Educ 2018 Aug 2;18(1):178. Epub 2018 Aug 2.

Heart Center, Hunan Children's Hospital, No. 86 Ziyuan Road, Changsha, 410007, China.

Background: This study sought to assess, using subjective (self-assessment) and objective (MCQ) methods, the efficacy of using heart models with ventricular septal defect lesions produced with three-dimensional printing technology in a congenital heart disease curriculum for medical students.

Methods: Three computed tomography datasets of three subtypes of ventricular septal defects (perimembranous, subarterial and muscular, one for each) were obtained and processed for building into and printing out 3D models. Then a total of 63 medical students in one class were randomly allocated to two groups (32 students in the experimental, and 31 the control). Read More

JACC Basic Transl Sci 2018 Apr 30;3(2):294-312. Epub 2018 May 30.

Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.

Survival in congenital heart disease has steadily improved since 1938, when Dr. Robert Gross successfully ligated for the first time a patent ductus arteriosus in a 7-year-old child. To continue the gains made over the past 80 years, transformative changes with broad impact are needed in management of congenital heart disease. Read More

Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging 2018 Jul 27. Epub 2018 Jul 27.

Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, ZA Leiden, The Netherlands.

Aims: To non-invasively assess intraventricular viscous energy loss (EL) and proportionality to kinetic energy (KE) in Fontan patients using 4D flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and compare to healthy controls.

Methods And Results: Thirty Fontan patients and 15 controls underwent 4D flow MRI. Ventricular EL was computed and normalized by end-diastolic volume (EDV). Read More

J Healthc Eng 2018 3;2018:5784567. Epub 2018 Jul 3.

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, National Center for Cardiovascular Disease, China & Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100037, China.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a novel ultrasound wire for echo-guiding percutaneous atrial septal defect (ASD) closure in a sheep model.

Methods: After right lateral thoracotomy, ASDs were created in 20 sheep by transseptal needle puncture followed by balloon dilatation. Animals were evenly randomized into 2 groups to undergo ASD closure using echography as the only imaging tool with either COOK wire (control group) or new ultrasound wire (study group). Read More

Case Rep Cardiol 2018 26;2018:3837825. Epub 2018 Jun 26.

Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN, USA.

Introduction: The Chiari network is an uncommon vestigial structure of the heart that is often clinically insignificant. We present an unusual case of infective endocarditis affecting only the Chiari network in a patient who presented with septic emboli to the lungs and brain.

Case Summary: A 61-year-old man was admitted with a 2-month history of hemoptysis, pleuritic chest pain, and right upper extremity numbness and weakness. Read More

PLoS One 2018 25;13(7):e0200342. Epub 2018 Jul 25.

Labatt Family Heart Centre, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario.

Objective: We sought to define the intrinsic stem cell capacity in pediatric heart lesions, and the effects of diagnosis and of age, in order to inform evidence-based use of potential autologous stem cell sources for regenerative medicine therapy.

Methods: Ventricular explants derived from patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), tetralogy of Fallot (TF), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and ventricular septal defect (VSD) were analyzed following standard in vitro culture conditions, which yielded cardiospheres (C-spheres), indicative of endogenous stem cell capacity. C-sphere counts generated per 5 mm3 tissue explant and the presence of cardiac progenitor cells were correlated to patient age, diagnosis and echocardiographic function. Read More

Semin Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2018 Winter;30(4):450-453. Epub 2018 Aug 23.

Paediatric Cardiology and Technological Innovation Group, Hospital Virgen del Rocio, Seville, Spain.; Cardiovascular Pathology Unit, Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBIS), CIBER-CV, Hospital Virgen de Rocio/CSIC/University of Seville, Seville, Spain.; Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, The Rayne Institute, St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.. Electronic address:

To evaluate the utility of a three-dimensional printed model (3D-model) for surgical decision planning in a complex case of multiple ventricular septal defect (VSD) (so-called Swiss-cheese septum). A 3 month-old-girl with diagnosis of multiple apical VSDs in the trabecular septum, perimembranous VSD, and atrial septal defect that resulted in congestive heart failure was referred for surgical intervention. Due to inconclusive understanding of the total number, openings and locations of the apical VSDs, there were concerns regarding the best surgical approach. Read More

Rev Port Cardiol 2018 Dec 9;37(12):1007.e1-1007.e5. Epub 2018 Jul 9.

Cardiology Department, Santa Marta Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal.

Uhl's disease, also known as Uhl anomaly, is a rare disease secondary to selective but uncontrolled apoptosis of right ventricular myocytes during the perinatal period, after complete cardiac development, leading to the absence of right ventricular myocardium and the direct apposition of endocardium to epicardium without a myocardial layer in between, resulting in right ventricular failure. The present paper describes a case of Uhl's disease with an uncommon presentation. A 28-year-old man was admitted with dyspnea and cyanosis. Read More

Front Pediatr 2018 26;6:181. Epub 2018 Jun 26.

Dirección de Investigación, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Mexico City, Mexico.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cardiac catheterization are diagnostic tools for right ventricle dysfunction (RVD), but those are expensive and often unavailable techniques. Thus, our objective was to identify clinical and/or echocardiographic variables capable of predicting a catheterization-based diagnosis of RVD. This was cross-sectional, diagnostic test accuracy study, considering the catheterization-based diagnosis of RVD as the gold standard. Read More

Kardiol Pol 2018 ;76(7):1117

Chair and Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Lodz, Kniaziewicza 1/5, 91-347 Łódź, Poland.

Cardiol Young 2018 Sep 6;28(9):1091-1098. Epub 2018 Jul 6.

1Department of Cardiac Surgery,Boston Children's Hospital,Harvard Medical School,Boston,MA,USA.

IntroductionThe optimal approach to unifocalisation in pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect and major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (pulmonary artery/ventricular septal defect/major aortopulmonary collaterals) remains controversial. Moreover, the impact of collateral vessel disease burden on surgical decision-making and late outcomes remains poorly defined. We investigated our centre's experience in the surgical management of pulmonary artery/ventricular septal defect/major aortopulmonary collaterals. Read More

Heart Vessels 2019 Jan 4;34(1):114-122. Epub 2018 Jul 4.

Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 162-8666, Japan.

The prognostic factors in patients with biventricular heart who underwent Fontan surgery remain unclear. This study wanted to assess the hypothesis that interventricular dyssynchrony evaluated by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can predict future cardiac events in patients with biventricular heart who have undergone Fontan surgery. We prospectively enrolled consecutive patients with biventricular Fontan circulation from 2003 to 2016, and performed protocolized cardiac MRI. Read More

Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2019 01 28;67(1):8-13. Epub 2018 Jun 28.

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Union Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.

Background: Transthoracic device closure (TTDC) and surgical repair with right infra-axillary thoracotomy (SRRIAT) or with right submammary thoracotomy (SRSMT) are all the primary alternative treatments for restrictive perimembranous ventricular septal defect (pmVSD). However, few studies have compared them in terms of effectiveness and complications.

Methods: Patients with restrictive pmVSD undergoing TTDC, or SRRIAT, or SRSMT from March 2016 to February 2017 were retrospectively reviewed in our cardiac center. Read More