Patterns of right aortic arch and mirror-image branching of the brachiocephalic vessels without associated anomalies.

It is unusual to have a right aortic arch with mirror-image branching of the brachiocephalic vessels and no associated congenital cardiac anomalies. Pathogenetic factors of this anomaly, and associated development of the derivatives of the pharyngeal arches, have not been explored extensively. Eleven patients with a mirror-image right aortic arch and no intracardiac anomalies have undergone evaluation at our institution since 1987.

In vivo, in utero microscopic magnetic resonance imaging: application in a rat model of diaphragmatic hernia.

This article presents a microscopic MR technique for imaging small mammalian fetuses in utero and in vivo which can be used as a tool for studying normal and abnormal development in small animal fetal models, for targeting in utero intervention in such models, and for following development serially. This new method is applied to a rat model of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were fed nitrofen at 9.

Advances in pediatric neuroimaging.

Magnetic resonance evaluation of the pediatric central nervous system is rapidly improving in a number of ways: (1) anatomically with higher resolution; (2) with greater sensitivity to pathological processes characterized by increased water content utilizing fluid attenuated inversion recovery imaging (FLAIR); (3) with greater speed of acquisition with ultrafast (1 s/image) and echo planar imaging techniques (50 ms/image); (4) with measurement of cerebral blood flow as perfusion; (5) with measurement of water proton dispersion (e.g. diffusion imaging); (6) with measurement of biochemical components within tissues with proton spectroscopy; and (7) with evaluation of cortical activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging.

The nature of flow in the systemic venous pathway measured by magnetic resonance blood tagging in patients having the Fontan operation.

Objectives: Our objectives were twofold: (1) to determine cardiac and respiratory dependency of systemic venous pathway flow of patients having the Fontan operation with a total cavopulmonary connection and (2) to describe the velocity profile. Systemic venous pathway flow is hypothesized to be mostly respiratory dependent, to be laminar, and to have a smooth velocity profile.

Methods: Twenty-two patients having the Fontan operation (aged 8.