OBJECTIVE We quantify the geometric and hemodynamic characteristics of extracardiac and lateral tunnel Fontan surgical options and correlate certain anatomic characteristics with their hemodynamic efficiency and patient cardiac index. METHODS AND RESULTS The study was conducted retrospectively on 22 patients undergoing Fontan operations (11 extracardiac and 11 lateral tunnel operations). Tota...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate prognosis of types of ventricular septal defects and coexistence of associated cardiac and extracardiac defects. METHODS 120 prenatal diagnosed pregnancies associated with ventricular septal pathology were retrospectively evaluated and divided into four groups, as atrioventricular septal defects, perimembranous septal defects, muscular septal de...

catheter ablation is an accepted, highly effective modality of treatment for cardiac arrhythmias in children. the success rate depends on the operator’s experience, especially in cases involving complex anatomies. we hereby report our recent experience of successful ablation of accessory pathways in three children with complex congenital heart diseases. the first case was a 7-year-old girl with...

Fontan palliation for single-ventricle patients was first described in 1971.1 The original approach was in the form of a classic atriopulmonary Fontan connection, bypassing the nonfunctional right ventricle. After recognizing the long-term complication of an atriopulmonary connection (right atrial dilation, arrhythmias, and thrombus formation), modifications have been made. The atriopulmonary c...

OBJECTIVE Multidector computed tomography (MDCT) is now commonly used for the evaluation of coronary artery disease. Because MDCT images include many non-cardiac organs and the patient population evaluated is highly susceptible to extracardiac diseases, this study was designed to evaluate the prevalence of extracardiac findings in the MDCT evaluation of ischemic heart disease. METHODS From Ma...

Analyses of activity generated by neurons in middle cervical or stellate ganglia versus intrinsic cardiac ganglia were performed to determine how neurons in different intrathoracic ganglia, which are involved in cardiac regulation, interact. Discharges of 19% of intrathoracic extracardiac neurons and 32% of intrinsic cardiac neurons were related to cardiodynamics. Epicardial touch increased the...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of implanting a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) system. BACKGROUND Clinicians and patients require data on the safety of the CRT implant procedure to estimate procedural risk. METHODS We evaluated outcomes of transvenous CRT system implantation in 2,078 patients from the Multicenter InSync Randomized Clinical Evaluation...