Publications by authors named "Anca Racolta"
Background: Impaired diastolic function is associated with a variety of diseases such as myocarditis or dilated cardiomyopathy. Currently, echocardiography is the standard method for assessing diastolic function. Recently, it has been postulated that cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is an at least equivalent or superior alternative to echocardiography.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoronary coding in dTGA pre- and post-ASO-verification and necessary corrections following adult CMR.
Eur Heart J Imaging Methods Pract
January 2024
Aims: In adult patients with transposition of the great arteries (dTGA) after arterial switch operation (ASO), the coronary artery circulation after neonatal surgical transfer remains a major culprit for long-term sequelae, including myocardial ischaemia and sudden cardiac death. As coronary imaging in paediatric age is often incomplete and classification mainly relies on the surgeon's description in the operation report, we intended to develop a systematic, understandable pattern of the coronary status for each young patient, combining unambiguous coding with non-invasive imaging.
Methods And Results: The monocentric prospective study evaluated 89 young adults (mean 23 years) after ASO for dTGA including cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) coronary angiography.
Article Synopsis
- * A study tested a protocol that involves temporarily reducing the support from a ventricular assist device (VAD) during exercise to identify patients who might recover enough to have the device removed.
- * Two out of three patients in the study successfully weaned off the VAD, highlighting that thorough evaluation during treatment can help recognize candidates for recovery, even when serious heart conditions are present.
Assessment of left ventricular mass (LVM) is important in the evaluation of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is the gold standard. Recent software allows LVM calculation by real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE). We investigated the impact of different software analysis tools on LVM determination by CMR or RT3DE in a cohort of patients with heterogeneous left ventricular (LV) disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Various techniques are described to facilitate stable stent implantation in aortic arch stenosis or coarctation. We describe an alternative technique, which due to its unique appearance during stent implantation, we have named "Dog Bone Technique" (DBT).
Technique: The stent/balloon assembly is placed across the stenosis, the long sheath is retrieved to uncover the distal 20-50% of the stent.