Evidence of Microvascular Changes in the Retina following Kawasaki Disease.

It is unclear whether all children with Kawasaki disease (KD) have increased later cardiovascular risk. The retinal microvasculature reflects changes in the microcirculation and is associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors and events. The aim of this study was to investigate retinal microvascular parameters in two populations of patients with previous KD and control participants.

Radiation Dose and Image Quality in Pediatric Cardiac Computed Tomography: A Comparison Between Sequential and Third-Generation Dual-Source High-Pitch Spiral Techniques.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a reduction in radiation dose and improvement in image quality of pediatric cardiac computed tomography scans performed using the high-pitch spiral technique on a new third-generation dual-source 2 × 192-slice scanner (group B) compared with scans performed using the sequential technique on a single-source 256-slice scanner (group A). We performed a retrospective observational study on 40 patients aged ≤18 years who underwent prospectively electrocardiogram-triggered cardiac computed tomography. Image quality was assessed by pre-defined objective indices and a four-point subjective score.

Isolated left-ventricular apical hypoplasia presenting as a left-ventricular mass on echocardiography.

Left-ventricular apical hypoplasia is a rare entity. Although it has typical imaging features on cardiovascular magnetic resonance, recognizing this condition on echocardiography can be challenging. This report describes an asymptomatic pediatric patient who initially presented with a left-ventricular mass on echocardiography.