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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
Evaluation of Coronary Flow Reserve After Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion in Rats
Published on: June 28, 2019
Myocardial flow reserve in patients with a systemic right ventricle after atrial switch repair
T P Singh1, R A Humes, O Muzik
1Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine and the PET Center, Detroit, Michigan, USA. tsingh@dmc.org
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to assess myocardial blood flow (MBF) and flow reserve in systemic right ventricles (RV) in long-term survivors of the Mustard operation.
Background:
There is a high prevalence of systemic RV dysfunction and impaired exercise performance in long-term survivors of the Mustard operation. A mismatch between myocardial blood supply and systemic ventricular work demand has been proposed as a potential mechanism.
Methods:
We assessed MBF at rest and during intravenous adenosine hyperemia in 11 long-term survivors of a Mustard repair (age 18+/-5 years, median age at repair 0.7 years, follow-up after repair 17+/-5 years) and 13 healthy control subjects (age 23+/-7 years), using N-13 ammonia and positron emission tomography imaging.
Results:
There was no difference in basal MBF between the systemic RV of survivors of the Mustard operation and the systemic left ventricle (LV) of healthy control subjects (0.80+/-0.19 vs. 0.74+/-0.15 ml/g/min, respectively, p = NS). However, the hyperemic flows were significantly lower in systemic RVs than they were in systemic LVs (2.34+/-0.0.69 vs. 3.44+/-0.62 ml/g/min respectively, p < 0.01). As a result, myocardial flow reserve was lower in systemic RVs than it was in systemic LVs (2.93+/-0.63 vs. 4.74+/-1.09, respectively, p < 0.01).
Conclusions:
Myocardial flow reserve is impaired in systemic RVs in survivors of the Mustard operation. This may contribute to systemic ventricular dysfunction in these patients.
