0000000000154319
AUTHOR
Andrea Raffaele Marras
Does Oxygen Content Play a Role in Spontaneous Closure of Perimembranous Ventricular Septal Defects?
(1) Background: the impact of a series of laboratory parameters (haemoglobin, haematocrit, foetal haemoglobin, peripheral oxygen saturation, iron, transferrin, ferritin, and albumin) on perimembranous ventricular septal defects spontaneous healing was tested. (2) Methods: one hundred and seven patients were enrolled in the study (57% males; mean age 2.1 ± 0.4 years) and were subsequently subdivided into two groups: self-healing (n = 36) and in need of intervention (n = 71). Self-healing subjects were defined on the basis of an absence of residual shunts at colorDoppler across the previous defect. (3) Results: no statistically significant differences were reported in the size of perimembrano…
Right ventricular diastolic function in post-surgical Tetralogy of Fallot patients: A pilot study to make a comparison between echocardiography and cardiac MRI
Background: right ventricular (RV) systolic dysfunction is associated with poor outcomes in Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) patients. Conversely, the influence of diastolic dysfunction in this setting is poorly known. In addition, evaluation of RV diastolic function by cardiac MRI is rarely performed.Materials and methods: twenty-four surgically treated ToF patients were enrolled in the study (54% males; median age at study: 28 (18–50) years; median age at surgery: 1.9 (0.4–8.2) years. They were studied by echocardiography to assess RV diastolic function in terms of traditional and TDI-derived parameters. At cardiac MRI, RV diastolic function was assessed by using phase-contrast analysis of flow …