Determination of anomalous pulmonary venous return with high-pitch low-dose computed tomography in paediatric patients

Background: In this study, we aimed to image pulmonary venous return anomalies and associated cardiovascular and pulmonary abnormalities by high-pitch low-dose computed tomography (CT) in children. Materials and methods: Forty-one patients with total or partial anomalous pulmonary venous return anomalous between May 2012 and June 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. The anomalies were determined using high-pitch low-dose CT. The patients’ mean age was 3 years (6 months to 15 years), and 24 of them were female. Results: There were 10 patients with total pulmonary venous return anomalies (TPVRA) and 31 patients with partial pulmonary venous return anomalies (PPVRA). Six (60%) patients with TPVRA had the supracardiac type, 2 (20%) had the cardiac type, and 2 (20%) had the mixed type. All patients with TPVRA had a large atrial septal defect (ASD), 1 patient also had patent ductus arteriosus, and 1 patient had right cardiac hypertrophy. Forty cases of PPVRA were found in 31 patients. Twenty-seven (67%) of them were right-sided, and 13 were left-sided (33%). Twenty (65%) patients also had an additional cardiovascular anomaly (ASD in 12 patients, persistent superior vena cava in 4 patients, patent ductus arteriosus in 3 patients, and aortic coarctation in 2 patients). Of the 27 patients with right-sided PPVRA, it drained into the superior vena cava in 19 patients, the right atrium in 5 patients, and the inferior vena cava in 3 patients. In left-sided cases, the anomalous pulmonary vein drained into the left innominate vein in 9 patients, and in 4 patients, there were accessory pulmonary veins that drained into the left innominate vein. Many of the patients had additional lung anomalies, including pneumonic infiltration (n = 12), atelectasis (n = 8), and lobar emphysema (n = 5), and some of these findings coexisted. Conclusions: Anomalous pulmonary venous drains and associated cardiac and extra-cardiac anomalies can be detected reliably and quickly with high-pitch low-dose CT without sedation in paediatric patients

The utility of multidetector computed tomography for evaluation of congenital heart disease

Background: Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are the leading cause of birthdefect-related deaths. Multidedector computed tomography (MDCT) plays animportant role for imaging CHD in addition to echocardiography and providesa comprehensive evaluation of complex heart malformations for the referringcardiologist. The aim of the study was to evaluate the utility of MDCT in theassessment of CHD.Materials and methods: A 102 patients with CHD were investigated after initialassessment by echocardiography. The information obtained by MDCT and findingsof echocardiography were reviewed together by paediatric cardiologistsand cardiac radiologists. Perioperative anatomic descriptions, wherever available(n = 34) formed the gold standard for the comparison.Results: The clinical consensus diagnosis defined 154 cardiovascular lesions inthe patients. The results were classified in groups. We present the appearanceof various congenital cardiac lesions seen in clinical practice.Conclusions: MDCT provides important information about anatomic details ofCHD for the referring cardiologist. The evaluation of different anatomic structuressuch as heart, great vessels, lungs and abdomen is possible in one acquisitionwith this technique

Intake plenum volume and its influence on the engine performance, cyclic variability and emissions

Intake manifold connects the intake system to the intake valve of the engine and through which air or air-fuel mixture is drawn into the cylinder. Details of the flow in intake manifolds are extremely complex. Recently, most of engine companies are focused on variable intake manifold technology due to their improvement on engine performance. This paper investigates the effects of intake plenum volume variation on engine performance and emissions to constitute a base study for variable intake plenum. Brake and indicated engine performance characteristics, coefficient of variation in indicated mean effective pressure (COVimep) as an indicator for cyclic variability, pulsating flow pressure in the intake manifold runner, and CO, CO2 and HC emissions were taken into consideration to evaluate the effects of different plenum volumes

Design of a new SI engine intake manifold with variable length plenum

This paper investigates the effects of intake plenum length/volume on the performance characteristics of a spark-ignited engine with electronically controlled fuel injectors. Previous work was carried out mainly on the engine with carburetor producing a mixture desirable for combustion and dispatching the mixture to the intake manifold. The more stringent emission legislations have driven engine development towards concepts based on electronic-controlled fuel injection rather than the use of carburetors. In the engine with multipoint fuel injection system using electronically controlled fuel injectors has an intake manifold in which only the air flows and, the fuel is injected onto the intake valve. Since the intake manifolds transport mainly air, the supercharging effects of the variable length intake plenum will be different from carbureted engine