Browsing by Author "Vukomanović, Goran (8252832300)"

Introduction Pulmonary artery stenosis (PS) is a congenital heart defect which occurs in 10% of all congenital heart defects. Pulmonary balloon valvuloplasty (BVP) has been the treatment of choice of PS over the last 30 years.; Methods The study included 88 patients diagnosed with PS. The patients were divided into three groups based on the severity of the disease. Also, they were divided into two age groups in order to analyze the frequency of complications. Hemodynamic measurements and echocardiography results were recorded before, 24-36 hours after BVP and at the end of follow-up.; Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of this method based on middle-term hospital follow-up, and safety of BVP based on our experience.; Results The studied group involved patients of average age 3.75±4.3 years (20 days to 17 years). Immediately after BVP a significant decrease of pressure gradient across the pulmonary valve (PV) was recorded in all patients; this result was similar in all 3 groups of patients regardless of the severity of stenosis (p<0.001). Complications of BVP occurred most commonly in children up to 12 months of age (ventricular tachycardia 4.5% and supraventricular tachycardia 6.8%). Pulmonary valve insufficiency after dilatation occurred in 6.6% of cases, and was most common in children aged up to 12 months. In 87 (98.9%) patients BVP was a definitive solution, and a significant residual stenosis was not recorded during follow-up.; Conclusion BVP is a safe and effective procedure in the treatment of isolated PS in children, regardless of the severity of stenosis but also regardless of patients’age. © 2014, Srpsko Lekarsko Drutsvo. All rights reserved.

Introduction Diagnosis of neonatal coarctation of the aorta (CoA) still presents a challenge in routine practice because of absence of reliable morphologic and functional parameters for early detection of this congenital heart defect in newborns. Objective The aim of this study is to identify easy obtainable two-dimensional echocardiographic parameters for detection of the CoA in newborns. Methods Echocardiographic evaluation was performed in 30 newborns with CoA and 20 healthy neonates (control group). Measurements of the proximal transverse arch (PTA), distal transverse arch (DTA), isthmus, distance between the left common carotid artery (LCCA) at the origin of the left subclavian artery (LSA), were obtained by two-dimensional echocardiography. Aortic arch hypoplasia was defined using Mouleart, Karl and Mee criteria, and Z-value. Index 1 was calculated as a ratio of DTA and distance between origins LCCA-LSA, Index 2 was calculated as a ratio of the ascending aorta and the distance between LCCA-LSA origins, and Index 3 was calculated as a ratio of PTA and distance between LCCA-LSA origins. Results Index 1 was significantly lower in patients with CoA in comparison with control group (0.50 vs. 1.39; p≤0.01). A cutoff point at 0.39, for Index 1, showed a sensitivity of 92% and specificity of 99% for the diagnosis of neonatal CoA, while cut off points at 0.69 and 0.44, for Index 2 and Index 3, showed the highest sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of CoA in newborns. Conclusion By using these echo indexes, two-dimensional echocardiographic aortic arch measurement becomes a simple, reliable noninvasive method for the evaluation of aortic coarctation in newborns and may lead to earlier diagnosis and subsequent surgical correction. © 2015 Serbia Medical Society. All rightsreserved.