Five-Year Comparison Results Between Clinically Severely Affected Tetralogy-of-Fallot Patients Initially Treated by Right Ventricular Outflow Stenting and Pink-Fallot Patients Undergoing Single-Step Correction.

The Purpose: Evaluation of the short-term and long-term results of a phased correction of the tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) with stenting of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) in comparison with a one-stage total correction (TC) of the defect.

Materials And Methods: Two groups of patients with classical ToF were formed. Group 1 (n = 25; median age = 72 days) was initially represented by children with ToF with a more severe clinical status (median weight = 3.

EMbedding and Backscattered Scanning Electron Microscopy: A Detailed Protocol for the Whole-Specimen, High-Resolution Analysis of Cardiovascular Tissues.

Currently, an ultrastructural analysis of cardiovascular tissues is significantly complicated. Routine histopathological examinations and immunohistochemical staining suffer from a relatively low resolution of light microscopy, whereas the fluorescence imaging of plaques and bioprosthetic heart valves yields considerable background noise from the convoluted extracellular matrix that often results in a low signal-to-noise ratio. Besides, the sectioning of calcified or stent-expanded blood vessels or mineralised heart valves leads to a critical loss of their integrity, demanding other methods to be developed.