[Magnetic resonance imaging of the postoperative status in children with congenital heart defects].

The justification of examinations by magnetic resonance and the results of visualization of cardiac and vascular structures in relation to the performed surgical operation were evaluated retrospectively in 24 children after surgery of congenital heart disease. Thirteen patients had an operation of coarctation or a double aortic arch and four had an operation of an anomaly of the branch of the pulmonary artery-its loop or atresia. Seven patients had operations, mostly complicated inborn heart disease, of the common arterial trunk and transposition of the large arteries with a conduit, tricuspidal atresia after Fontan's or Glenn's modified operation and ligature of an aortal aneurysm. At the time of examination the patients were 4 to 18 years old. Spin echo sequences obtained by basic reconstructions of T1 and possibly T2 weighted images on a 1.5 T Magnetom apparatus Siemens proved an excellent visualization in the area of the large arteries and the capacity of detailed visualization of cardiac structures, incl. changes of the vascular wall in relation to the performed operation. Magnetic resonance examinations provided accurate information on central anastomoses and conduits as well as on changes of the vascular lumen. The investigation confirmed that magnetic resonance is suitable for visualization of postoperative changes and findings of morphological structures in particular at sites of cardiovascular anastomoses where magnetic resonance supplements the visualization capacity of echocardiography and substitutes invasive examinations where only an angiographic examination is needed. In eight instances the examination was supplemented by invasive assessment of haemodynamic conditions.