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Background Impaired pulmonary function is an independent predictor of mortality in adult congenital heart disease (CHD), but has been scarcely studied in the paediatric CHD population. Aims To compare the pulmonary function of children with CHD to healthy controls, and evaluate its association with clinical outcomes, exercise capacity, and quality of life. Methods Cross-sectional multicentre study among 834 children (555 CHD and 279 control subjects) who underwent a complete spirometry and a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). The 5th centile (Z-score = − 1.64) was used to define the lower limit of normal. The association of clinical and CPET variables with spirometry was studied using a multivariate analysis. Children and their parents filled in the Kidscreen health-related quality of life questionnaire. Results Forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) Z-scores values were lower in children with CHD than controls (− 0.4 ± 1.5 vs. 0.4 ± 1.3, P Conclusion These results suggest that pulmonary function should be monitored early in life, from childhood, in the CHD population.

Backgroundpeak oxygen uptake (VO2) correlates with health related quality of life (QoL) in adults with heart failure. Cardio-pulmonary exercise test (CPET) is recommended in the follow-up of adults with congenital heart diseases (CHD). Few data is available as regards correlation between CPET and QoL among children with CHD.Methods and results202 CHD children aged 8 to 18 performed a CPET (treadmill n=96, cycle-ergometer n=106). CHD severity was stratified into 4 groups. All children and parents filled out the Kidscreen QoL questionnaire. Peak VO2, anaerobic threshold (AT), oxygen pulse followed a downward significant trend with increasing CHD severity and conversely for VE/VCO2 slope. Self-reported and parent-reported physical well-being QoL scores correlated with peak VO2 (respectively r=0.27, p

IntroductionIn cardiovascular research, there has recently been an interest in ultra-high field MRI to characterize cardiac anatomy and function in rodents. However, reports on the accuracy of the method are scarce. The purpose of our work was to evaluate left ventricular (LV) systolic function in a mouse model of cardiac hypertrophy using an 11.7T MRI machine and to assess the validity of our results by comparing them with ex vivo measurements.Methods24 C57Bl/6J mice were studied, including 11 animals having undergone a surgical transverse aortic constriction (TAC) and 13 sham animals. Imaging was performed on a 11.7 Tesla Bruker MR scanner. The LV systolic function was assessed from a stack of 1mm thick short-axis views obtained with a FLASH-cine sequence covering the entire ventricles. Using a dedicated software (SegmentTM, Medviso, Sweden), the following volumes (μl) were determined: end-diastolic, end-systolic and stroke volumes. LV ejection fraction (in %) and LV mass (mg) were subsequently deduced. One week after, mice were sacrificed and their LV mass and tibial length (TL) were measured.ResultsAs expected, LV mass was significantly higher in the TAC group. When using the previously validated LV mass/tibial length ratio (LV/TL), sham mice showed a ratio of 4.65±0.09mg/mm and 3.83±0.11mg/mm for morphometric and MRI measurements respectively, and TAC mice showed a ratio of 6.50±0.40 and 5.39±0.28 respectively (p