RESUMO
Accurate prenatal diagnosis of complex congenital cardiovascular anomalies,vascular ones in particular,is still challenging.A fetal cardiovascular cast model can provide a copy of the cardiac chambers and great vessels with normal or pathological structures.This study was aimed to demonstrate three-dimensional anatomy of complex congenital cardiovascular anomalies in fetuses by means of corrosion casting.Twenty fetuses with prenatal-ultrasound-diagnosed complex cardiovascular anomalies were enrolled in this study (19 to 35 gestational weeks).Fetal cardiovascular cast models were made by a corrosion casting technique.The specimens were injected with casting material via the umbilical vein,and then immersed in strong acid after casting fluid was solidified,to disclose the geometries of cardiovascular cavities.Nineteen cast models were successfully made from 20 specimens.The casts distinctly showed the morphological malformations and spatial relationship between cardiac chambers and great vessels.One hundred and eleven abnormalities were revealed by casting in the 19 specimens,including 34 abnormalities located in the cardiac chambers (3,4 and 27 anomalies in the atria,atrioventricular valves and ventricles,respectively),and 77 in the great vessels (28,20,24 and 5 anomalies in the aorta and its branches,the pulmonary artery,the ductus arteriosus and the major veins,respectively).Corrosion casting can display three-dimensional anatomy of fetal complex cardiovascular anomalies.This improves our understanding of related pathomorphology and prenatal diagnosis.
RESUMO
The intubation of conventional transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) probes into patients causes serious esophagus irritation,and thus the use of TEE probes in pediatric practice is limited.In this study,we aimed at the development of a special probe which could be inserted through the nasopharyngeal cavity into the esophagus to obtain the same high-quality echocardiography images as those obtained by conventional TEE and improve patients' experience.During the examination,the patients felt relaxed for a longer time and cooperated with the sonographers in the process of cardiac catheterization conducted in the surgery room or the intensive care unit (ICU),resulting in improved accuracy of the diagnosis and timely administration of appropriate treatment.Two years ago,Prof.Xin-fang WANG put theories into practice by inserting the probe through the nasal cavity and pharynx into the esophagus of volunteers to successfully detect the heart and great vessels at the retrocardiac space.Later,Prof.Ming-xing XIE performed the transnasal TEE examination in 12 atrial septal defect (ASD) patients and proved the safety and reliability of this method,which could become a new way for clinical diagnosis and treatment.