Growth of the Branch Pulmonary Arteries After Employing 'Shunt-Only' Strategy for Neonates With Pulmonary Atresia or Stenosis.

We sought to determine the impact of juxtaductal stenosis (JDS) on branch pulmonary artery (PA) growth after systemic-to-pulmonary shunt (SPS) placement without pulmonary arterioplasty (ie the 'shunt-only' strategy). This was a retrospective review of 91 patients, 54 (59.3%) with pulmonary atresia and 27 (29.7%) with a functionally single ventricle, who underwent neonatal SPS placement without pulmonary arterioplasty between 2008 and 2017. The median age and body weight at SPS procedure were 16 day's (interquartile range [IQR], 11-22) and 3.10 kg (IQR: 2.85-3.40), respectively. All patients had pre-SPS computed tomography (CT) followed by post-SPS CT at a median interval of 5.8 months' (IQR: 4.5-7.2). The ratio of the diameters of the juxtaductal PA over the non-SPS-side hilar PA (JD and/or PA) on preoperative CT-a surrogate for JDS severity-was 0.93 (IQR: 0.67-1.09). The median diameter (Z) of the SPS-side and non-SPS-side PA on postoperative CT were 1.0 (IQR: -0.07-1.73) and 0.99 (IQR: -0.45-1.70), respectively. The pulmonary artery index (Nakata index) increased significantly from 124.0 ± 50.2 mm2/m2 to 240.8 ± 88.7 mm2/m2 (P < .001). Unplanned surgical interventions on the non-SPS-side PA were performed on 7 patients. Logistic regression identified lower preoperative JD and/or PA as a risk factor for unplanned intervention on the non-SPS-side PA (odds ratio, 1.27 per 0.1 decrease; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-2.16, P = 0.025). PA growth on the non-SPS side is generally adequate without pulmonary arterioplasty among patients with JDS. However, unplanned interventions for the non-SPS-side PA are caveats for 'shunt-only' strategy in neonates with significant JDS.

Ganglion cardiacum or juxtaductal body of human fetuses.

The ganglion cardiacum or juxtaductal body is situated along the left recurrent laryngeal nerve in the aortic window and is an extremely large component of the cardiac nerve plexus. This study was performed to describe the morphologies of the ganglion cardiacum or juxtaductal body in human fetuses and to compare characteristics with intracardiac ganglion. Ganglia were immunostained in specimens from five fetuses of gestational age 12-16 weeks and seven fetuses of gestational age 28-34 weeks. Many ganglion cells in the ganglia were positive for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH; sympathetic nerve marker) and chromogranin A, while a few neurons were positive for neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS; parasympathetic nerve marker) or calretinin. Another ganglion at the base of the ascending aorta carried almost the same neuronal populations, whereas a ganglion along the left common cardinal vein contained neurons positive for chromogranin A and NOS but no or few TH-positive neurons, suggesting a site-dependent difference in composite neurons. Mixtures of sympathetic and parasympathetic neurons within a single ganglion are consistent with the morphology of the cranial base and pelvic ganglia. Most of the intracardiac neurons are likely to have a non-adrenergic non-cholinergic phenotype, whereas fewer neurons have a dual cholinergic/noradrenergic phenotype. However, there was no evidence showing that chromogranin A- and/or calretinin-positive cardiac neurons corresponded to these specific phenotypes. The present study suggested that the ganglion cardiacum was composed of a mixture of sympathetic and parasympathetic neurons, which were characterized the site-dependent differences in and near the heart.

Comparación de las medidas obtenidas por resonancia magnética con reconstrucción tridimensional y las obtenidas por angiografía digital para el diagnóstico de coartación de aorta / Comparison between the measurements obtained by magnetic resonance and digital angiography in patients with aortic coarctation

Introducción. La angiografía digital (AD) transcateterismo es el estándar de oro en el diagnóstico de la coartación de aorta (CoAo) aunque la resonancia magnética (RM) ha mostrado utilidad en la evaluación del sistema cardiovascular. La medición de los segmentos del arco aórtico facilita la selección de los candidatos para angioplastia transcateterismo evitando una cirugía torácica. No hay reportes de estudios comparativos de las medidas de los diferentes segmentos aórticos, obtenidas por RM y AD. Material y métodos. Se estudiaron 49 pacientes con RM y AD que ingresaron con CoAo entre enero de 2002 y diciembre de 2003. Se determinó el tipo de CoAo. Se midieron los segmentos aórticos por RM y AD y se compararon por medio de correlación lineal (Pearson). En 43 pacientes se realizó angioplastia con globo. Resultados. La variabilidad en la medición de los diferentes segmentos entre ambos métodos fueron: aorta ascendente 1.99-2.10 mm (desviación estándar (DE) 2.7-2.8), arco aórtico 1.79-2 mm (DE 2.55-2.99), istmo 1.53-1.56 mm (DE 2-2.17), aorta descendente 1.75-1.78 mm (DE 2.54-2.55). Las medidas comparadas por correlación lineal muestran r entre 0.80 y 0.999, excepto en arco aórtico por RM que obtuvo r de 0.57. Conclusión. La evaluación con RM de niños con CoAo puede sustituir a la realizada mediante AD ya que una variación de 1.5 a 2.1 mm en las medidas obtenidas por ambos métodos no interfiere con la decisión terapéutica. Sólo debe realizarse la medición del arco aórtico en 2 proyecciones.

Introduction. Quantitative aortic arch analysis may improve the selection of candidates for angioplasty who are most likely to benefit from the procedure. Digital angiography (DA) has traditionally been the definitive preoperative diagnostic procedure for aortic coarctation (AoCo), but magnetic resonance (MR) imaging affords good spatial resolution and excellent contrast between blood vessels and soft tissues and offers great potential for delineating thoracic cardiovascular structures. Material and methods. Forty nine patients with AoCo were examined with MR and DA between June 2002 and December 2003. The site and type of AoCo were determined and the measurements of aortic arch segments were obtained. We realized balloon angioplasty in 43 patients. Results. We compared the measurements using Pearson's linear correlation. The variability of the measurements was: ascending aorta 1.99-2.1 mm (standard deviation [SD] 2.7-2.8), aortic arch 1.79-2 mm (SD 2.55-2.99), aortic isthmus 1.53-1.56 mm (SD 2-2.17), and descending aorta 1.75-1.78 mm (SD 2.54-2.55). The lineal correlation of Pearson for measurements were; r =0.80-0.999 but the aortic arch was r =0.57 by MR. Conclusion. We conclude that quantitative MR measurements of aorta may be used to diagnose of AoCo and avoid using DA. To obtain precise measurements of aortic arch in patients with AoCo, MR should include 2 projections.