Early detection of anomalous origin of left coronary artery from the right pulmonary artery after successful repair of critical coarctation of the aorta.

Left ventricular (LV) function is impaired by increased afterload in neonates with severe coarctation of the aorta, which may result in endocardial fibroelastosis. Repair of the coarctation usually solves the problem, with LV function normalizing after a few weeks. This report describes a patient who underwent successful repair of critical coarctation with normalization of LV function despite signs of endocardial fibroelastosis but with persisting elevation of cardiac troponin T. Cardiac catheterization showed the rare coincidence of anomalous origin of left coronary artery from the right pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) and coronary sinus orifice atresia with left superior vena cava.

Long-term follow-up after mitral valve replacement in childhood: poor event-free survival in the young child.

OBJECTIVE: In children, mechanical mitral valve replacement may be the only option if the failing mitral valve cannot be repaired. Mandatory anticoagulation and the fixed size prosthesis are of concern in the growing child, but long-term follow-up results are lacking. METHODS: Single centre, extended retrospective study of 54 patients who underwent first mitral valve replacement between June 1982 and December 1997. Median age at operation was 3.0 years (range 2 days-18.1 years), 21 patients were15 years (maximum 22 years) in nine patients. RESULTS: Thirty-day mortality was 42% in patients