Relation between exercise-induced hypertension and sustained hypertension in adult patients after successful repair of aortic coarctation.

Objectives: To investigate whether exercise-induced hypertension in successfully repaired adult post-coarctectomy patients is associated with hypertension on 24-h blood pressure measurement and increased left ventricular mass.

Methods: One hundred and forty-four consecutive post-coarctectomy patients (mean age 31.5 years, range 17-74 years; mean age at repair 7.

Right ventricular function in congenital cardiac disease: noninvasive quantitative parameters for clinical follow-up.

Right ventricular function is of great importance in patients with both acute and chronic ventricular overload. The early detection of right ventricular dysfunction may have an impact on therapeutic decision making, helping to prevent or further delay functional deterioration of the right ventricle. In patients with right ventricular overload due to congenital cardiac diseases, dobutamine stress testing combined with magnetic resonance imaging, electrocardiographic changes, and monitoring of concentrations of plasma brain natriuretic peptide are very suitable parameters for the early detection of ventricular dysfunction, and should therefore be used in the follow-up of these patients.