Cardiac MR imaging enables comprehensive evaluation of cardiac function and anatomy in postoperative congenital heart disease patients, helping to detect the need for re-intervention.
What is the clinical role of Cardiac MR (CMR) imaging in the follow-up of postoperative congenital heart disease patients?
This review highlights the essential role of CMR in the lifelong follow-up of postoperative CHD patients for assessing anatomy, function, and predicting outcomes.
The survival of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) has greatly improved over the past decades. Nevertheless, lifelong follow-up is required in postoperative CHD patients, and noninvasive imaging plays an important role during follow-up. Cardiac MR (CMR) imaging enables comprehensive imaging of cardiac function and anatomy, and helps to detect patients who need re-intervention and to predict clinical outcome. Postoperative CHD patients who are frequently referred for CMR evaluation include those with coarctation of the aorta, tetralogy of Fallot, transposition of the great arteries, and single ventricle patients after the Fontan procedure. This article reviews the current clinical role of CMR in these various subgroups of postoperative CHD patients. Furthermore, an overview of novel CMR applications and their clinical value in CHD patients is provided.
Hulst et al. (Fri,) conducted a review in Postoperative congenital heart disease. Cardiac MRI was evaluated. Cardiac MR imaging enables comprehensive evaluation of cardiac function and anatomy in postoperative congenital heart disease patients, helping to detect the need for re-intervention.