Introduction:
The left pulmonary artery (LPA) contributes more than the right (RPA) to total pulmonary regurgitation (PR) in patients after tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) repair, but the mechanism of this difference is not well known. We hypothesized that unilaterally increased pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), resulting from lung compression by the enlarged and levorotated heart leads to greater PR in the LPA. This study aimed to analyze the interplay between heart and lung size, mediastinal geometry, and differential PR.
Methods:
This is a single-center retrospective analysis of 50 magnetic resonance studies in patients after TOF repair. Patients with more than mild discrete branch pulmonary artery stenosis were excluded. Blood flow was measured by phase-contrast velocity encoding within the branch pulmonary arteries. On the axial image with the largest total cardiac surface area, cardiac angle (α) between the thoracic anterior-posterior line and the interventricular septum, right and left lung areas as well as right and left hemithorax areas were measured (Figure).
Results:
There was no difference in LPA and RPA diameters. The LPA showed significantly less total forward flow (p=0.04), smaller net forward flow (p=<0.001), and greater RF (p=0.001) than the RPA. Left lung area was smaller than the right (p<0.001). RVEDVi correlated with LPA RF (R=0.48, p<0.001), but not with RPA RF. Larger RVEDVi correlated with a larger α angle (R=0.46, p<0.001), i.e. a more leftward cardiac axis and with smaller left lung area (R=-0.58, p<0.001). LPA RF, but not RPA RF, correlated inversely with left lung area indexed to the left hemithorax area (R=-0.34, p=0.02).
Conclusions:
An enlarged and levorotated heart - as a result of PR - is associated with smaller left lung size, and augments diastolic flow reversal in the LPA, presumably via increased left PVR. By imposing a further volume load on the RV, LPA regurgitation may thus close a positive feed-back loop of PR and RV dilatation.
Combination of tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve and left pulmonary artery originating from patent ductus arteriosus: A rare association in an infant