Diffuse fibromuscular dysplasia successfully treated with scoring balloon angioplasty in a 3-year-old boy.

In children, up to 10% of the cases of arterial hypertension may be caused by a renovascular disease. The etiology of this renovascular disease is most of the time due to a fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD), which causes a noninflammatory intimal-medial fibroplasia leading to luminal compromise. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of FMD is a worldwide-accepted treatment modality for this serious arterial disease with, so far, good safety and long-term efficacy data. Once FMD involves several arterial compartments leading to symptoms the outcomes are poor. Herein we report the case of a 3(1/2)-year-old boy with severe arterial hypertension and abdominal angina due to a diffuse multivisceral FMD involvement, successfully managed by a percutaneous angioplasty approach using a new balloon catheter for plaque modulation.

Performance-related workload in alpine skiing with congenital heart disease.

The present case report assesses the individual performance-related workload in three male children with left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction during alpine skiing. Spirometric data (VO(2)) and heart rate (HR) were monitored during alpine skiing in various terrains according to the subject's performance level. A portable spirometric device was used for on-slope data sampling. Relative workload was calculated in relation to peak cardiorespiratory values, obtained during an incremental laboratory cycle test. On the slope the subjects reached 78% to 103% of their peak ergometric HR and a VO(2peak) of 65% to 100%. Young beginners and intermediates with LVOT obstruction seem to face a high cardiorespiratory stress during alpine skiing. For the beginner, an additional load is seen during uphill sidestepping with skis. In children suffering from congenital heart disease, physiological aspects of sports activities such as skiing should not be viewed separately from the possibilities of sports participation and social interactions.

Assessment of shunt volumes in children with ventricular septal defects: comparative quantification of MR flow measurements and invasive oximetry.

The aim of this study was to compare the results of magnetic resonance based shunt volume measurements with the results of the invasive method by the principle of Fick. In 14 children (median age: 16.5 months) with ventricular septal defects the shunt volume was quantified by magnetic resonance flow measurements under spontaneous breathing conditions as well as with invasive angiography during one sedation. A good correlation between both methods was observed (r(2) = 0.8, p <0.0001, CI(95%) = 0.62-1.22). A tendency towards higher values in the noninvasive technique was found in the Bland-Altman plot (bias = 3.79). Magnetic resonance based shunt measurements are a reliable alternative to the invasive shunt measurement by cardiac catheterization.