Coronary artery fi stulas in children: Experience from a Southern African tertiary care centre complex

Coronary artery fi stulas (CAF) are unusual coronary artery connections with low pressure cardiac chambers or vessels. The majority are congenital, but can also be acquired. Complications include heart failure, myocardial infarction and arrhythmias. Symptomatic and large CAF require treatment and options include surgical ligation or percutaneous device embolisation of the fi stula which has emerged as a less invasive and equally effi cacious management modality. Careful interrogation of the CAF is required prior to occlusion in order not to compromise normal coronary artery vasculature that may arise from the fi stula which can lead to myocardial ischaemia and infarction. Several reported cases highlight thrombus formation within large CAF after surgical ligation with propagation of the thrombus into coronary vessels arising proximally, resulting in myocardial compromise. We present a series of 6 children with CAF, 2 were treated by percutaneous embolisation (one developed a myocardial infarction post procedure) and 3 were treated surgically

Utility of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance-Derived Wave Intensity Analysis As a Marker of Ventricular Function in Children with Heart Failure and Normal Ejection Fraction

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to explore the diagnostic insight of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR)-derived wave intensity analysis to better study systolic dysfunction in young patients with chronic diastolic dysfunction and preserved ejection fraction (EF), comparing it against other echocardiographic and CMR parameters. BACKGROUND: Evaluating systolic and diastolic dysfunctions in children is challenging, and a gold standard method is currently lacking. METHODS: Patients with presumed diastolic dysfunction [n = 18; nine aortic stenosis (AS), five hypertrophic, and four restrictive cardiomyopathies] were compared with age-matched control subjects (n = 18). All patients had no mitral or aortic incompetence, significant AS, or reduced systolic EF. E/A ratio, E/E′ ratio, deceleration time, and isovolumetric contraction time were assessed on echocardiography, and indexed left atrial volume (LAVi), acceleration time (AT), ejection time (ET), and wave intensity analyses were calculated from CMR. The latter was performed on CMR phase-contrast flow sequences, defining a ratio of the peaks of the early systolic forward compression wave (FCW) and the end-systolic forward expansion wave (FEW). RESULTS: Significant differences between patients and controls were seen in the E/E′ ratio (8.7 ± 4.0 vs. 5.1 ± 1.3, p = 0.001) and FCW/FEW ratio (2.5 ± 1.6 vs. 7.2 ± 4.2 × 10−5 m/s, p < 0.001), as well as—as expected—LAVi (80.7 ± 22.5 vs. 51.0 ± 10.9 mL/m2, p < 0.001). In particular, patients exhibited a lower FCW (2.5 ± 1.6 vs. 7.2 ± 4.2 × 10−5 m/s, p < 0.001) in the face of preserved EF (67 ± 11 vs. 69 ± 5%, p = 0.392), as well as longer isovolumetric contraction time (49 ± 7 vs. 34 ± 7 ms, p < 0.001) and ET/AT (0.35 ± 0.04 vs. 0.27 ± 0.04, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study shows that the wave intensity-derived ratio summarizing systolic and diastolic function could provide insight into ventricular function in children, on top of CMR and echocardiography, and it was here able to identify an element of ventricular dysfunction with preserved EF in a small group of young patients

The growth and evolution of cardiovascular magnetic resonance: a 20-year history of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) annual scientific sessions

Background and purpose: The purpose of this work is to summarize cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) research trends and highlights presented at the annual Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) scientific sessions over the past 20 years. Methods: Scientific programs from all SCMR Annual Scientific Sessions from 1998 to 2017 were obtained. SCMR Headquarters also provided data for the number and the country of origin of attendees and the number of accepted abstracts according to type. Data analysis included text analysis (key word extraction) and visualization by ‘word clouds’ representing the most frequently used words in session titles for 5-year intervals. In addition, session titles were sorted into 17 major subject categories to further evaluate research and clinical CMR trends over time. Results: Analysis of SCMR annual scientific sessions locations, attendance, and number of accepted abstracts demonstrated substantial growth of CMR research and clinical applications. As an international field of study, significant growth of CMR was documented by a strong increase in SCMR scientific session attendance (> 500%, 270 to 1406 from 1998 to 2017, number of accepted abstracts (> 700%, 98 to 701 from 1998 to 2018) and number of international participants (42–415% increase for participants from Asia, Central and South America, Middle East and Africa in 2004–2017). ‘Word clouds’ based evaluation of research trends illustrated a shift from early focus on ‘MRI technique feasibility’ to new established techniques (e.g. late gadolinium enhancement) and their clinical applications and translation (key words ‘patient’, ‘disease’) and more recently novel techniques and quantitative CMR imaging (key words ‘mapping’, ‘T1’, ‘flow’, ‘function’). Nearly every topic category demonstrated an increase in the number of sessions over the 20-year period with ‘Clinical Practice’ leading all categories. Our analysis identified three growth areas ‘Congenital’, ‘Clinical Practice’, and ‘Structure/function/flow’. Conclusion: The analysis of the SCMR historical archives demonstrates a healthy and internationally active field of study which continues to undergo substantial growth and expansion into new and emerging CMR topics and clinical application areas

Patient-specific evaluation of pulmonary vascular resistances after corrected transposition of the great arteries

Patients with corrected transposition of the great arteries (TGA) can develop unilateral pulmonary stenosis as a long-term complication of the surgical correction. It is assumed that pulmonary vascular resistances (PVR) in these patients remodel to allow the lung in the stenotic side to be correctly perfused. A patient-specific computational model was developed using MR and flow patients’ data to better understand this phenomenon and to evaluate the fluid dynamics in this class of patients

Patient-specific simulations for planning treatment in congenital heart disease

Patient-specific computational models have been extensively developed over the last decades and applied to investigate a wide range of cardiovascular problems. However, translation of these technologies into clinical applications, such as planning of medical procedures, has been limited to a few single case reports. Hence, the use of patient-specific models is still far from becoming a standard of care in clinical practice. The aim of this study is to describe our experience with a modelling framework that allows patient-specific simulations to be used for prediction of clinical outcomes. A cohort of 12 patients with congenital heart disease who were referred for percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation, stenting of aortic coarctation and surgical repair of double-outlet right ventricle was included in this study. Image data routinely acquired for clinical assessment were post-processed to set up patient-specific models and test device implantation and surgery. Finite-element and computational fluid dynamics analyses were run to assess feasibility of each intervention and provide some guidance. Results showed good agreement between simulations and clinical decision including feasibility, device choice and fluid-dynamic parameters. The promising results of this pilot study support translation of computer simulations as tools for personalization of cardiovascular treatments