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A Novel Diastolic Doppler Index Less Affected by Aortic Arch Anomalies Co-existing with Coarctation. Pediatr Cardiol 2025 Aug;46(6):1551-1559

Date

07/12/2024

Pubmed ID

38995425

Pubmed Central ID

PMC13042260

DOI

10.1007/s00246-024-03569-8

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85198380609 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   1 Citation

Abstract

Severity assessment for coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is challenging due to concomitant morphological anomalies (complex CoA) and inaccurate Doppler-based indices. Promising diagnostic performance has been reported for the continuous flow pressure gradient (CFPG), but it has not been studied in complex CoA. Our objective was to characterize the effect of complex CoA and associated hemodynamics on CFPG in a clinical cohort. Retrospective analysis identified discrete juxtaductal (n = 25) and complex CoA (n = 43; transverse arch and/or isthmus hypoplasia) patients with arm-leg systolic blood pressure gradients (BPG) within 24 h of echocardiography for comparison to BPG by conventional Doppler indices (simplified Bernoulli equation and modified forms correcting for proximal kinetic energy and/or recovered pressure). Results were interpreted using the current CoA guideline (BPG ≥ 20 mmHg) to compare diagnostic performance indicators including receiver operating characteristic curves, sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy, among others. Echocardiography Z-scored aortic diameters were applied with computational simulations from a preclinical CoA model to understand aspects of the CFPG driving performance differences. Diagnostic performance was substantially reduced from discrete to complex CoA for conventional Doppler indices calculated from patient data, and by hypoplasia and/or long segment stenosis in simulations. In contrast, diagnostic indicators for the CFPG only modestly dropped for complex vs discrete CoA. Simulations revealed differences in performance due to inclusion of the Doppler velocity index and diastolic pressure half-time in the CFPG calculation. CFPG is less affected by aortic arch anomalies co-existing with CoA when compared to conventional Doppler indices.

Author List

Ghorbannia A, Spearman AD, Sawalhi S, Woods RK, Maadooliat M, LaDisa JF Jr

Authors

John F. LaDisa PhD Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Andrew Spearman MD Associate Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Aorta, Thoracic
Aortic Coarctation
Child
Child, Preschool
Diastole
Echocardiography, Doppler
Female
Hemodynamics
Humans
Infant
Male
ROC Curve
Retrospective Studies
Severity of Illness Index