POSTOPERATIVE EVALUATION OF PULMONARY-ARTERIES IN CONGENITAL HEART-SURGERY BY MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING - COMPARISON WITH ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY

Palliative and corrective operations for the treatment of cyanotic con genital heart disease frequently involve or potentially influence the size of the pulmonary arteries. Echocardiography and magnetic resonanc e imaging (MRI) are two noninvasive imaging techniques currently used to assess morphologic abnormalities of the pulmonary arteries. The pur pose of this study was to evaluate the role of MRI in comparison with echocardiography for defining morphologic changes of the pulmonary art eries after congenital heart surgery. The MRI scans and echocardiogram s of 33 patients with surgery involving or affecting the pulmonary art eries were compared. The pulmonary outflow tract, pulmonary confluence , right and left pulmonary arteries, and surgical shunts were separate ly evaluated. Cineangiography and surgical reports were used to confir m findings. MRI and echocardiography were equivalent for demonstrating abnormalities of the right ventricular outflow tract, main pulmonary artery, and a variety of pulmonary shunts. MRI was superior to echocar diography in demonstrating abnormalities of the right and left pulmona ry arterial branches (p < 0.001). MRI is effective for monitoring pulm onary arterial status after surgery and is superior to echocardiograph y for the evaluation of the right and left pulmonary arteries.