Transcatheter closure of ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm in a pregnant woman.

Sinus of Valsalva aneurysm (SVA) is a rare cardiac anomaly that is usually congenital, but may be acquired. They are usually asymptomatic unless they compress adjacent structures, develop thrombosis, or rupture. A ruptured SVA (RSVA) can lead to rapid hemodynamic deterioration and often needs to be addressed emergently.

Atrial baffle problems following the Mustard operation in children and young adults with dextro-transposition of the great arteries: the need for improved clinical detection in the current era.

Objective: Intraatrial Mustard baffle repair of dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA) is vulnerable to complications, typically obstruction and leaks. Because patients often require pacemakers or intracardiac electrophysiology studies (EPS)/ablation for arrhythmias, narrowed or obstructed baffles restrict cardiac access hindering intracardiac procedures. Current guidelines recommend clinical as well as comprehensive transthoracic echocardiographic/Doppler (TTE) studies to identify baffle problems.

Postprocedural outcomes of rural children undergoing correction of congenital heart lesions in Yunnan Province, China.

The management of congenital heart disease (CHD) remains a significant challenge in developing regions. Since 2006, China California Heart Watch has provided cardiac services in China's Yunnan province. Our Grants for Kids program aims to diagnose and fund surgical and nonsurgical treatments for underprivileged children with congenitally malformed hearts.

Electrocardiographic strain pattern in children with left ventricular hypertrophy: a marker of ventricular dysfunction.

The objective of this study was to assess the relation between strain pattern on electrocardiogram (ECG-strain) and echocardiographic indices of left ventricular (LV) structure and function in children with LV hypertrophy (LVH). ECG-strain is a marker of LVH and is associated with adverse cardiovascular prognosis in adults. The significance of ECG-strain and its relation to LV structure and function has not been studied in children.

Effect of aerosolized PGE(1) on the ductus arteriosus of neonatal swine.

Background: Inhaled PGE(1) (IPGE(1)) is a potential pulmonary vasodilator in neonatal respiratory failure. However, its effect on the patency of the ductus arteriosus (DA) has not been described.

Objective: To investigate the effect of IPGE(1) on the DA in healthy piglets.

Sildenafil use in a symptomatic neonate with severe Ebstein's anomaly of the tricuspid valve.

Ebstein's anomaly (EA) is associated with poor outcome in symptomatic neonates. Management typically includes prostaglandins or surgical creation of a Blalock-Taussig shunt. Right ventricular afterload reduction may help by improving the forward flow across the pulmonary valve.

Longitudinal changes in heart rate-corrected measures of exercise performance in children.

Interpretation of change in exercise performance over time in children with repaired congenital heart disease is often hampered by poor effort that limits the maximum heart rate; this is often difficult to distinguish from chronotropic impairment, a common finding in these children. In an attempt to address this limitation, we sought to examine measures of exercise performance that are corrected for heart rate in healthy children and to determine if these change with somatic growth. We studied two serial graded exercise tests in 24 healthy children at an interval of >3 years.

Prenatal diagnosis of complete atrioventricular septal defect with truncus arteriosus.

Truncus arteriosus (TA) is a rare cardiac anomaly constituting less than 1% of all congenital heart defects. Its association with complete atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) is extremely unusual and only 12 cases diagnosed postnatally or postmortem have been reported so far. We describe the first case of truncus arteriosus with AVSD to be diagnosed prenatally by fetal echocardiography.

Effectiveness of transvenous pacemaker leads placed through intravascular stents in patients with congenital heart disease.

Eight patients with venous obstruction secondary to Mustard baffle obstruction or previous transvenous pacemaker leads underwent intravascular stent relief of their obstructions followed by the insertion of new leads. Patients were followed from 1.3 to 6.

Abnormal origin of the right subclavian artery from the right pulmonary artery in a patient with D-transposition of the great vessels and left juxtaposition of the right atrial appendage: an unusual anatomical variant.

Isolation of the left subclavian artery (LSCA) or its anomalous origin from the pulmonary artery (PA) has been documented in several cases, especially in association with a right-sided aortic arch. Similar anomalies involving the right subclavian artery (RSCA) are less frequent. Anomalous origin of the RSCA from the PA in association with D-transposition of the great arteries (D-TGA) is exceedingly rare and only two cases have been reported so far.

Four-dimensional ultrasonography of the fetal heart using color Doppler spatiotemporal image correlation.

Objective: To describe clinical and research applications of 4-dimensional imaging of the fetal heart using color Doppler spatiotemporal image correlation.

Methods: Forty-four volume data sets were acquired by color Doppler spatiotemporal image correlation. Seven subjects were examined: 4 fetuses without abnormalities, 1 fetus with ventriculomegaly and a hypoplastic cerebellum but normal cardiac anatomy, and 2 fetuses with cardiac anomalies detected by fetal echocardiography (1 case of a ventricular septal defect associated with trisomy 21 and 1 case of a double-inlet right ventricle with a 46,XX karyotype).

Use of balloon pull-through technique to assist in CardioSEAL device closure of patent foramen ovale.

CardioSEAL device closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) has been advocated for the treatment of patients with cryptogenic stroke. Using the standard delivery technique, partial deployment of the CardioSEAL device can occur, especially in patients with a thick septum secundum and/or long PFO tunnel. We hypothesized that using a left atrial-to-right atrial balloon pull-through to make the septum primum incompetent would result in improved final device position regardless of septal thickness or tunnel length.