Novel lateral tunnel Fontan operation in children promotes continued pathway growth into adulthood.

Objective: Most Fontan operation techniques currently used in children are limited by a blood flow pathway with no growth potential. The external pericardial lateral tunnel Fontan is a novel technique using the patient's pedicled pericardium and atrial wall in situ to create a Fontan pathway. We hypothesize that viable, autologous tissue will allow growth potential of the pathway and adapt to increasing physiologic demands of somatic growth.

Automated Functional Imaging by 2D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography Reveals High Incidence of Abnormal Longitudinal Strain in a Cohort of Pediatric Oncology Patients.

Background: Automated functional imaging (AFI) was introduced to two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography to facilitate strain assessment in the clinical settings. In patients treated with cardiotoxic anthracyclines, AFI may be helpful in the detection of early myocardial injury when left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) remains normal.

Methods: We retrospectively assessed feasibility of AFI in 143 echocardiograms on 102 subjects aged 0.