Experience in the Treatment of Pentalogy of Cantrell with Artificial Materials in a Single Clinical Center

Objective To summarize experience in the treatment of pentalogy of Cantrell (POC) in our hospital and explore the effect of artificial materials in repairing sternal defects. Materials and Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on treatment of five children with POC treated by using the Gore-Tex patch and titanium mesh in the Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, from January 2010 to January 2019. Results The concurrent conditions included double outlet of right ventricle (n = 2), ventricular septal defect (VSD) and atrial septal defect (ASD) (n = 1), VSD and ASD and patent ductus arteriosus (n = 1), and VSD and left ventricular diverticulum (n = 1) in five cases with POC. Color Doppler echocardiography and computed tomography (CT) + three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the thorax and abdomen were performed preoperatively. The cardiac malformation was corrected according to color Doppler echocardiography, and a Gore-Tex patch was used to repair the pericardial defect. Titanium mesh was made according to CT 3D reconstruction with a 3D printing mold to repair sternal defects. All patients underwent a one-stage operation, all hearts were eventually repositioned, no deaths occurred after the operation, and follow-up was performed for 6 months to 2 years. The patients recovered well, and the exterior thorax was normal. Conclusion The diagnosis of POC is not difficult. The priority of surgical treatment for POC is to obtain satisfactory corrections of cardiac malformation. The repair of the pericardial defect with the Gore-Tex patch and the sternal defect with the titanium mesh can make the heart return to the mediastinum, reduce the pressure on the heart, reduce the surgical trauma, reduce the difficulty of repairing the sternal defect, and optimally restore the exterior thorax.

Automatic Assessment of Mitral Regurgitation Severity Using the Mask R-CNN Algorithm with Color Doppler Echocardiography Images

Accurate assessment of mitral regurgitation (MR) severity is critical in clinical diagnosis and treatment. No single echocardiographic method has been recommended for MR quantification thus far. We sought to define the feasibility and accuracy of the mask regions with a convolutional neural network (Mask R-CNN) algorithm in the automatic qualitative evaluation of MR using color Doppler echocardiography images. The authors collected 1132 cases of MR from hospital A and 295 cases of MR from hospital B and divided them into the following four types according to the 2017 American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) guidelines: grade I (mild), grade II (moderate), grade III (moderate), and grade IV (severe). Both grade II and grade III are moderate. After image marking with the LabelMe software, a method using the Mask R-CNN algorithm based on deep learning (DL) was used to evaluate MR severity. We used the data from hospital A to build the artificial intelligence (AI) model and conduct internal verification, and we used the data from hospital B for external verification. According to severity, the accuracy of classification was 0.90, 0.89, and 0.91 for mild, moderate, and severe MR, respectively. The Macro F1 and Micro F1 coefficients were 0.91 and 0.92, respectively. According to grading, the accuracy of classification was 0.90, 0.87, 0.81, and 0.91 for grade I, grade II, grade III, and grade IV, respectively. The Macro F1 and Micro F1 coefficients were 0.89 and 0.89, respectively. Automatic assessment of MR severity is feasible with the Mask R-CNN algorithm and color Doppler electrocardiography images collected in accordance with the 2017 ASE guidelines, and the model demonstrates reasonable performance and provides reliable qualitative results for MR severity.

Two Dimensional Color Doppler Dealiasing Using Submaximal Velocity Components Filtering

Aliasing is one of the most common artifacts in 2D color Doppler echocardiography. Existing methods are approximate and the most precise of them require considerable amount of computations. In the proposed paper, we describe an algorithm that modifies only areas with submaximal velocities — areas most prone to aliasing, leaving other untouched in order to facilitate the process of analysis for the radiologist. Algorithm was tested on 10 in-vivo datasets of large animals and have shown the considerable precision and computation efficiency, which made it real-time compatible.

Objective Evidence of Pulsus Alternans by Echocardiography in Acute Severe Heart Failure

Acute coronary syndrome may leads to heart failure. Severity of heart failure is identified by NYHA classification clinically. Color Doppler echocardiography is the key investigation to identify the acute systolic heart failure. For the quantification of systolic heart failure diagnosis, Ejection fraction (EF) can be measured by Simpson method. EF > 30% is defined as severe systolic heart failure. Pulsus alternans is found in severe heart failure patients. Pulsus alternans is a poor prognostic sign of severe heart failure patients in acute MI setting. This cross sectional observation study was aimed to identify the objective evidence of Pulsus alternance noninvasively by Echocardiography. Color Doppler echocardiography was done 100 acute coronary syndrome with heart failure NYHA III and IV patients in department of Cardiology, BSMMU, from July 2018 to June 2019. Age 18 to 70 yrs, male is 79 and female is 21. Pulsus alternans was found in 32 patients, 39 had low volume and 29 had normal volume pulse. 50% patients had ST depression and T inversion and diagnosed as case of Unstable Agina or Non STEMI, 44 had STEMI and 7 had developed new onset of LBBB. 87 Patients who have EF < 30 % was marked as Severe LV systolic dysfunction. Among them, 3 had mild, 14 had moderate and rest 70 had severe Mitral regurgitation. 38 (43.67%) patients had Doppler alternans in severe LV systolic dysfunction group. P value for Doppler alternans is 0.039 which is significant. Doppler alternans by Echocardiography in Severe LV systolic dysfunction patients showed 49% sensitivity and 78% specificity. 38 patients had Severe RV systolic dysfunction by M- mode echo measurement of TAPSE<10 mm. 22 (57.89%) had Doppler alternans across Tricuspid valve in case of severe RV systolic dysfunction. Sensitivity of Doppler alternans by Doppler Echocardiography in TV severe RV systolic dysfunction is 51% and specificity for it is 82%. University Heart Journal Vol. 16, No. 2, Jul 2020; 92-98

Diagnostic analysis of abnormal increase of PASP in fetus in middle- and late-stage pregnancy by color Doppler echocardiography

Objective: Our study was conducted with an attempt to investigate the diagnostic analysis of abnormal increase of fetal pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) in middle and late pregnancy by color Doppler echocardiography. Methods: From August 2017 to January 2019, 52 fetuses with moderate or greater tricuspid high-speed regurgitation were retrospectively analyzed and selected as Group A. 88 fetuses with full-color blood flow of the two ventricles and symmetrical sizes of the cardiac cavities on both sides harboring tricuspid valve and mild regurgitation or a small amount of regurgitation were selected as Group B. The pulmonary artery blood flow acceleration time (AT) and right ventricular ejection time (ET) was measured, and the PASP was calculated. Results: The tricuspid regurgitation velocity, tricuspid regurgitation pressure difference and PASP in Group A were higher than those in Group B (p < 0.05), and the AT and AT/ET values in Group A were lower than those in Group B (p < 0.05). Gestational age, tricuspid regurgitation velocity and tricuspid regurgitation pressure difference were positively correlated with PASP. However, AT/ET and AT value were negatively correlated with PASP. Conclusion: The abnormal increase of pulmonary artery can be assessed by color Doppler echocardiography of fetal tricuspid regurgitation, which is worth popularizing and applying in clinic. Advances in knowledge: It was suggested that the middle- and late-stage fetuses with moderate or greater tricuspid regurgitation and with >20 mmHg regurgitation pressure difference should be followed up in clinic. If PASP was ≥70 mmHg with symptoms of right heart failure, fetuses should be closely observed until 35–36 weeks old to ensure fetal safety and early delivery would be recommended.