Digital Subtraction Pulmonary Angiography in Children with Pulmonary Hypertension due to Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Segmental Pulmonary Hypertension in Children with Congenital Heart Disease

Segmental pulmonary hypertension is a complex condition in children that encompasses many congenital heart diseases including pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect, hemitruncus/truncus arteriosus with branch pulmonary artery stenosis, unilateral absent pulmonary artery, and several post-tricuspid shunt lesions. Multimodality imaging is required to confirm and assess pulmonary vascular disease in subjects with major aorto-pulmonary collaterals. We describe 3 children with complex congenital heart defects who have a variable degree of segmental pulmonary hypertension and discuss management strategies and the role of interventional and/or pulmonary hypertension targeted therapies.

Syncope in a Child with Pulmonary Hypertension and Positive Gene Tests for Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia and Long QT Syndrome

We present a 10-year-old boy with syncope who was found to have long-QT syndrome and severe Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) both in the absence of a secondary cause; to our knowledge, this is the first report with this unusual coexistence. His genetic tests were positive for hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) without any family history of PH or LQTS. We demonstrated that digital subtraction pulmonary angiography was more useful compared to CT angiogram to demonstrate pulmonary vascular changes which correlated with a noresponse to acute vasoreactivity testing during right heart catheterization. He has been stable for the last 2 years on Ambrisentan, Sildenafil, and Nadolol without recurrence of symptoms.

Pulmonary Vascular Underperfusion Score in Premature Infants with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia and Pulmonary Hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a complication of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). The underlying pathophysiology of BPD-associated PH is complex and poorly understood. Echocardiogram may underestimate the severity of pulmonary hypertensive vascular disease in severe BPD. Digital subtraction pulmonary angiography (DSPA) is a potentially useful imaging modality for evaluating changes in the pulmonary vasculature of BPD-associated PH. In this study, we objectively quantified the pulmonary hypertensive vascular changes demonstrated by DSPA using a novel pulmonary vascular underperfusion score (PVUS) and correlated the scoring system with echocardiography parameters and cardiac hemodynamics by right heart catheterization.