Publications by authors named "Heiko C Stern"

Aims: It is commonly believed that pulmonary regurgitation (PR) after surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) leads to progressive right ventricular (RV) enlargement. However, progressive RV dilatation has never clearly been documented in this patient population. Therefore, we studied the size of the RV over time in patients after surgical TOF repair.

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Purpose: To compare the quantification of pulmonary stroke volume (SV) by phase contrast magnetic resonance (PC-MR) in the main pulmonary artery (MPA) to the sum of SVs in both peripheral pulmonary arteries (PPA) in different right ventricular (RV) outflow pathologies.

Materials And Methods: Pulmonary SV was determined by PC-MR in the MPA and the PPA in healthy individuals (H, n = 54), patients after correction for tetralogy of Fallot with significant pulmonary regurgitation and without pulmonary or RV outflow tract stenosis (PR, n = 50), and in patients with RV outflow tract or pulmonary valve stenosis (PS, n = 50). Resulting SVs were compared to aortic SV in the ascending aorta.

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Background: Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a very rare disease. Accordingly, the incidence and distribution of myocardial scarring in long-term follow-up of patients after successful surgery of ALCAPA is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the distribution of left ventricular (LV) myocardial scarring by late gadolinium enhancement magnetic resonance in these patients.

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Background: Patients after atrial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries have limited exercise performance. Rigid atrial baffles may cause a relative preload reduction. Previous studies have had suboptimal control groups, which ideally should consist of patients with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA) without previous heart surgery, having a systemic right ventricle, but lacking rigid atrial baffles.

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Background: Quantitative evaluation of pulmonary perfusion using lung perfusion scintigraphy in patients with atriopulmonary anastomosis (APA) or total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) or partial cavopulmonary connection (PCPC) is difficult because of preferential draining of the venae cavae to one lung. Scintigraphy is the gold standard. Phase-velocity MRI (PV-MRI) is a new technique for determining pulmonary perfusion.

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