Vertebrae at the thoracolumbar junction: A quantitative assessment using CT scans.

The thoracolumbar junction is often associated with traumatic injuries, due to its biomechanical instability. Reasons for this instability are currently still under debate; however, contributing factors such as the rapid change in spinal curvature and facet orientation from the thoracic to lumbar transition have been implicated. Normally, the superior facet orientation in the thoracic region is angled in a coronal plane, whereas vertebrae in the lumbar region have facets angled in the sagittal plane.

Delayed enhancement imaging in a contemporary patient cohort following correction of tetralogy of Fallot.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that myocardial scars after repair of tetralogy of Fallot are related to impaired cardiac function and adverse clinical outcome.

Methods: A total of 53 patients were retrospectively analysed after repair of tetralogy of Fallot. The median patient age was 20 years (range 2-48).

Systemic right ventricles rarely show myocardial scars in cardiac magnetic resonance delayed-enhancement imaging.

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that myocardial scars cause systolic dysfunction in patients with transposition of the great arteries and a systemic right ventricle.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 20 consecutive patients (10 male, mean age 27.3 years) with a systemic right ventricle who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging with 1.