Heart : official journal of the British Cardiac Society
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Impaired myocardial blood flow and coronary flow reserve of the anatomical right systemic ventricle in patients with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries.
To investigate myocardial blood flow of the morphological right systemic ventricle in unoperated patients with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA) by positron emission tomography (PET). ⋯ Blood flow measurements suggest that coronary reserve is decreased in the absence of ischaemic symptoms in patients with CCTGA. The global impairment of stress flow dynamics may indicate altered global vasoreactivity, and quantitative changes in microcirculation suggest that their role in the pathogenesis of systemic right ventricular dysfunction is important.
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Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) allows detection of Trypanosoma cruzi in blood throughout the course of Chagas' disease. ⋯ In a cohort of seropositive individuals, patients with T cruzi DNA detected by PCR and male patients were at higher risk of progression. These results highlight the importance of T cruzi in the pathophysiology of chronic cardiomyopathy.