HEARTS WITH TWISTED ATRIOVENTRICULAR CONNECTIONS - FINDINGS AT MR-IMAGING

The ''crisscross'' heart and the heart with ''superoinferior ventricle s'' are closely related congenital cardiac malformations that are char acterized by twisted atrioventricular connections. The authors studied the morphologic characteristics of three hearts with twisted atrioven tricular connections as seen on magnetic resonance (MR) images. The mo st important clue to the diagnosis was the distorted atrioventricular connections that were demonstrated on serial images. The axes of the a trioventricular connections through the atrioventricular valves were n ot parallel to each other. The presence of unusual recesses in the car diac chambers, the angulated or curved configuration of the atrial and ventricular septa, and the unexpected great arterial relationship for the given combination of segmental connections supported the findings of twisted atrioventricular connections. MR imaging facilitated the p recise morphologic diagnosis of these hearts.