Left ventricular function and exercise capacity after arterial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The arterial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries was initially believed to be an anatomical correction. Recent evidence shows reduced exercise capacity and left ventricular function in varying degrees in the long term after an arterial switch operation.

Objective: To perform a meta-analysis on long-term exercise capacity and left ventricular ejection fraction after an arterial switch operation.

Adverse ventricular-ventricular interactions in right ventricular pressure load: Insights from pediatric pulmonary hypertension versus pulmonary stenosis.

Right ventricular (RV) pressure overload has a vastly different clinical course in children with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (iPAH) than in children with pulmonary stenosis (PS). While RV function is well recognized as a key prognostic factor in iPAH, adverse ventricular-ventricular interactions and LV dysfunction are less well characterized and the pathophysiology is incompletely understood. We compared ventricular-ventricular interactions as hypothesized drivers of biventricular dysfunction in pediatric iPAH versus PS Eighteen iPAH, 16 PS patients and 18 age- and size-matched controls were retrospectively studied.

Main pulmonary artery area limits exercise capacity in patients long-term after arterial switch operation.

Objectives: Despite excellent survival in patients after the arterial switch operation, reintervention is frequently required and exercise capacity is decreased in a substantial number of patients. This study relates right-sided imaging features in patients long-term after the arterial switch operation to exercise capacity and ventilatory efficiency to investigate which lesions are functionally important.

Methods: Patients operated in the UMC Utrecht, the Netherlands (1976-2001) and healthy controls underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and cardiopulmonary exercise testing within 1 week.

Advances in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging of congenital heart disease.

Due to advances in cardiac surgery, survival of patients with congenital heart disease has increased considerably during the past decades. Many of these patients require repeated cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging to assess cardiac anatomy and function. In the past decade, technological advances have enabled faster and more robust cardiovascular magnetic resonance with improved image quality and spatial as well as temporal resolution.

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.

Bedside prediction rule for infections after pediatric cardiac surgery.

Purpose: Infections after pediatric cardiac surgery are a common complication, occurring in up to 30% of cases. The purpose of this study was to develop a bedside prediction rule to estimate the risk of a postoperative infection.

Methods: All consecutive pediatric cardiac surgery procedures between April 2006 and May 2009 were retrospectively analyzed.