Evaluation of Regional Myocardial Function by Strain and Strain Rate before and after Surgical Repair of Congenital Heart Anomalies.

Background: Tissue Doppler imaging yields useful information about regional myocardial function. The purpose of this study was to investigate myocardial function by strain and strain rate in a group of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) before and after cardiac surgery. Methods: Three consecutive tissue Doppler echocardiographic examinations were performed on 25 patients with CHD, who underwent open-heart surgery. The study was conducted from April 2013 to April 2014 in a university hospital, and the assessments were done 1 day before and 1 week and 1 month after surgery. The effects of demographic variables, types of anomalies, and cardiopulmonary bypass factors on strain were evaluated. Results: The study population comprised 13 female and 12 male patients at a mean age of 9.4 ± 9.8 years. Compared to the preoperative data, repeated measurements of strain in 9 segments of the ventricles showed a significant reduction 1 week after surgery, followed by a significant augmentation 1 month postoperatively (p value = 0.001 for all 9 segments). The reduction in strain at the middle segment of the left ventricular free wall was significant in the cyanotic patients (p value = 0.037). The increase in strain at the middle segment of the septum and the right ventricular basal and middle segments was significant (p value = 0.021, p value = 0.015, and p value = 0.021, respectively) in the patients with a shorter pump time. Conclusion: Our patients experienced an early decline in myocardial function after cardiac surgery, but their myocardium recovered its contractility gradually.

A prospective observational study of paediatric cardiac surgery outcomes in a postoperative intensive care unit in Iran.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence of complications, morbidity and mortality, and the associated risk factors with mortality at a Paediatric Cardiology Intensiv Care Unit of a developing country. METHODS: The prospective observational study was conducted at Shahid Modarres Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from August 2009 to July 2010. A total of 202 patients were monitored from the time they entered the Paediatric Cardiology Intensive Care Unit till their final discharge. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis and p < or = 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Of the total, 107 (53%) were male and 95 (47%) were female. The mean age of the patients was 4.5 +/- 4.9 years (range: 2 days to 18 years). Among the patients 59 (29.2%) had complications and 25 (12.37%) of them died. A total of 177 (87.6%) survived and were discharged. Infants (p = 0.012), cyanotic congenital heart disease (p = 0.002), longer duration of cardiopulmonary bypass (p = 0.027), longer aortic cross-clamp time (p = 0.038), longer mechanical ventilation time (p < 0.006), and early post-operative period (p = 0.05) were associated factors for mortality. According to regression analysis, cyanotic congenital heart disease, longer intubation time, and early post-operative period were major factors for mortality (p = 0.01, p < 0.001, and p = 0.001) respectively. CONCLUSION: Critically ill cyanotic young infants in the first 24 hours after operation experienced high mortality. Prolonged mechanical ventilation was also associated with high mortality.

The Relationship between Coronary Artery Aneurysm and QT Interval Dispersion in Acute Phase of Kawasaki Disease.

OBJECTIVE: QT dispersion (QTd) has been proposed as a marker of ventricular repolarization inhomogeneity and several investigations have proved the relationship between it and cardiac ischemia, ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. The aim of this study was to assess the relation between coronary artery involvement and QTd, and QTc dispersion (QTcd) in the acute phase of Kawasaki disease (KD). METHODS: We studied 65 patients with acute KD. Patients were divided into 3 groups. Group one consisted of 48 patients without coronary artery involvement. Group two comprised 13 patients with small to medium size aneurysm. In Group three there were 4 patients with giant aneurysm or multiple small to medium size aneurysms or thrombosis in coronary arteries. For each patient 12 lead electrocardiography was obtained, and QT, QTc, QTd, QTcd, and RR interval were calculated. FINDINGS: There were 40 males and 25 females with a mean age of 41.4±31.1 months. There was no significant difference in QT, QTc, RR measurements between 3 groups. QTd was greater in group 3 versus group 1 and 2, but the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.06). QTcd was significantly greater in group 3 than in groups 1 and 2 (75.02±11.53 ms versus 46.82±15.39 ms and 48.88±10. 55 ms respectively (P = 0.04). The sensitivity of QTcd ≥60 ms to detect the patients with severe coronary arteries involvement was 100%, the specificity was 93.4%, positive predictive value was 50%, negative predictive value was 100%, and accuracy was 93.8%. CONCLUSION: QTcd can be used as a predictive factor for diagnosis of severe coronary arteries involvement in the acute phase of KD.

Associated coronary anomalies in 135 Iranian patients with tetralogy of Fallot.

Coronary artery anomalies are common among patients with tetralogy of Fallot. One hundred and thirty-five patients (80 males and 55 females) with tetralogy of Fallot who underwent repair between 1995 and 2002 were studied to determine the incidence of coronary anomalies in Iranian patients. Eight (5.9%) patients (4 males and 4 females) had a surgically relevant coronary artery anomaly: single coronary ostium in 5, origin of the left anterior descending artery from the right coronary artery in 2, and origin of the right coronary artery from the left coronary artery in 1. The surgical technique in 3 of these patients was repair of the ventricular septal defect with a transverse incision on the right ventricle, without damage to the coronary arteries. In another patient, an allograft aortic valve cylinder was inserted. In the other 4 patients with a single coronary ostium, placement of a limited transannular patch was adequate. Consideration of these anomalies during primary repair could decrease the risk of operation in such patients. However, it seems that the presence of anomalous coronary arteries does not affect incremental risk after surgical repair.