Right Ventricular Strain in Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot After Pulmonary Valve Replacement With Reconstructed Radial Long-axis Cine Magnetic Resonance Images

Objectives: To investigate changes in right ventricular (RV) strain after pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) in repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) by applying a novel postprocessing technique to conventional short-axis cine MRI to measure RV strains before and after PVR. Methods: Twenty-four patients with repaired TOF who underwent PVR and 16 healthy controls were enrolled. Global maximum and minimum principal strains (GPS max , GPS min ) and global circumferential and longitudinal strains (GCS, GLS) were measured from short-axis cine images reconstructed radially along the long axis. Strain parameters before and after PVR were compared using paired t-tests. One-way ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc analysis was used for comparisons between the before and after PVR groups and the control group. Results: There were no differences in strain parameters before and after PVR. The GPS max before PVR was lower than that in the control group ( P =0.002). Before and after PVR, GCSs were higher and GLSs were lower than those in the control group (before and after GCSs: P =0.002 for both, before and after GLSs: P <0.0001 and P =0.0003). Conclusions: RV strains from radially reconstructed short-axis cine images revealed impaired myocardial motion after PVR. When compared to the control group, changes in GCS and GLS in TOF patients before and after PVR might be due to RV remodeling.