Ventricular Mechanics in Congenital Heart Disease

This Research Topic is focused on "Ventricular mechanics in congenital heart disease", aiming to provide an overview of state-of-the-art multidisciplinary knowledge in this area. The contractile status of the ventricle and the working condition of the ventricle in relation to the remainder of the vascular (i.e. ventriculo-arterial, VA, coupling) are important indicators of overall cardiovascular function. Indeed, phenomena like heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) are known to occur also in the pediatric population. The use of established echocardiographic parameters for assessment of ventricular function in children is still debated. Furthermore, in the presence of congenital lesions, VA coupling can be unfavourable, affecting the mechanical efficiency of the ventricle. Differences in the systemic/sub-aortic ventricle in repaired congenital heart disease (CHD) and the unique physiology of young patients with univentricular hearts further strengthen the case for in-depth knowledge of ventricular mechanics in CHD and investigation of the parameters that can affect them. Full assessment of ventricular mechanics would improve the physiological insight into CHD, as well as potentially indicate relevant parameters for risk stratification of patients. The aim of the special issue is to merge expertise from different areas in pediatric cardiology and biomedical engineering (including conductance catheter measurements, advanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging, finite element modelling, statistical shape modelling, and computational fluid dynamics) to present different facets of this important clinical topic.

Keywords: congenital heart disease, ventricular mechanics, ventriculo-arterial coupling, modelling, HFpEF

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