Quality of Life Among Patients With Congenital Heart Disease After Valve Replacement.

Most studies concerning valve replacement in congenital heart disease (CHD) focus on surgical morbidity and mortality. However, with the increased life expectancy of these patients, the focus shifts to quality of life (QOL). The aim of this study was to report and compare the QOL of CHD patients after valve replacement with the general population and to find factors associated with QOL.

Aortic valve prosthesis-patient mismatch and exercise capacity in adult patients with congenital heart disease.

Objectives: To report the prevalence of aortic valve prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) in an adult population with congenital heart disease (CHD) and its impact on exercise capacity. Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) with a history of aortic valve replacement may outgrow their prosthesis later in life. However, the prevalence and clinical consequences of aortic PPM in ACHD are presently unknown.

Pulmonary regurgitant volume is superior to fraction using background-corrected phase contrast MRI in determining the severity of regurgitation in repaired tetralogy of Fallot.

In the assessment of pulmonary regurgitation (PR) using phase contrast MRI, phase offset errors affect the accuracy of flow. This study evaluated the use of automated background correction for phase offset in the quantification of PR fraction and volume in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), and to assess its clinical impact. We retrospectively analyzed 203 cardiac MRI studies, performed on 1.

Pulmonary valve replacement: twenty-six years of experience with mechanical valvar prostheses.

Background: Although the thromboembolic risk after pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) with mechanical valves is presumed to be high, recent studies suggest promising short-term and mid-term results. However, large studies reporting long-term mortality and valve-related complications are missing.

Methods: We describe valve-related complications in 66 patients with a mechanical pulmonary valvar prosthesis implanted between 1987 and 2013.

Pressure overloaded right ventricles: a multicenter study on the importance of trabeculae in RV function measured by CMR.

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is the preferred method to measure right ventricular (RV) volumes and ejection fraction (RVEF). This study aimed to determine the impact of excluding trabeculae and papillary muscles on RV volumes and function in patients with RV pressure and/or volume overload and healthy controls and its reproducibility using semi-automatic software. Eighty patients (pulmonary hypertension, transposition of the great arteries after arterial switch operation and after atrial switch procedure and repaired Tetralogy of Fallot) and 20 controls underwent short-axis multislice cine CMR.

Effect of right ventricular outflow tract obstruction on right ventricular volumes and exercise capacity in patients with repaired tetralogy of fallot.

Patients with tetralogy of Fallot and combined right ventricular outflow tract obstruction (RVOTO) and pulmonary regurgitation (PR) have a less dilated right ventricular (RV) and better RV function compared with patients without RVOTO. It is not known whether RVOTO is associated with improved exercise capacity. We compared cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, echocardiography, and exercise tests in 12 patients with RVOTO (Doppler peak RVOT gradient ≥30 mm Hg) and 30 patients without RVOTO.

Long-term tricuspid valve prosthesis-related complications in patients with congenital heart disease.

Objectives: In patients with acquired valvar disease, morbidity and mortality rates after tricuspid valve replacement (TVR) are high. However, in adult patients with congenital heart disease, though data concerning outcome after TVR are scarce, even poorer results are suggested in patients with Ebstein anomaly. To investigate the applicability of these results to a broader array of congenital heart disease patients, we report the long-term follow-up of prosthesis-related complications, including re-replacement of patients with a tricuspid valve prosthesis and congenital heart disease.

Improved cardiac MRI volume measurements in patients with tetralogy of Fallot by independent end-systolic and end-diastolic phase selection.

Objectives: To investigate to what extent cardiac MRI derived measurements of right ventricular (RV) volumes using the left ventricular (LV) end-systolic and end-diastolic frame misrepresent RV end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes in patients with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) and a right bundle branch block.

Methods: Sixty-five cardiac MRI scans of patients with ToF and a right bundle branch block, and 50 cardiac MRI scans of control subjects were analyzed. RV volumes and function using the end-systolic and end-diastolic frame of the RV were compared to using the end-systolic and end-diastolic frame of the LV.

Improving the reproducibility of MR-derived left ventricular volume and function measurements with a semi-automatic threshold-based segmentation algorithm.

To validate a novel semi-automatic segmentation algorithm for MR-derived volume and function measurements by comparing it with the standard method of manual contour tracing. The new algorithms excludes papillary muscles and trabeculae from the blood pool, while the manual approach includes these objects in the blood pool. An epicardial contour served as input for both methods.

Impact of right ventricular endocardial trabeculae on volumes and function assessed by CMR in patients with tetralogy of Fallot.

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of right ventricular (RV) trabeculae and papillary muscles on measured volumes and function assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot. Sixty-five patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot underwent routine cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. Endocardial and epicardial contours were drawn manually and included trabeculae and papillary muscles in the blood volume.