Title:Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction in Patients with Congenital Heart
Disease
Volume: 19
Issue: 4
Author(s): Inne Vanreusel*, Vincent F.M. Segers, Emeline Van Craenenbroeck and An Van Berendoncks
Affiliation:
- Department of Cardiology, Antwerp University Hospital, Drie Eikenstraat 655, Edegem 2650, Belgium
- Research
Group Cardiovascular Diseases, GENCOR, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, Antwerp
2610, Belgium
Keywords:
Microvascular (dys)function, coronary microvascular (dys)function, coronary flow reserve, microcirculation, heart defects, congenital heart disease.
Abstract: Congenital heart diseases represent a wide range of cardiac malformations. Medical and
surgical advances have dramatically increased the survival of patients with congenital heart disease,
leading to a continuously growing number of children, adolescents, and adults with congenital
heart disease. Nevertheless, congenital heart disease patients have a worse prognosis compared
to healthy individuals of similar age. There is substantial overlap in the pathophysiology of congenital
heart disease and heart failure induced by other etiologies. Among the pathophysiological
changes in heart failure, coronary microvascular dysfunction has recently emerged as a crucial
modulator of disease initiation and progression. Similarly, coronary microvascular dysfunction
could be important in the pathophysiology of congenital heart diseases as well. For this systematic
review, studies on maximal vasodilatory capacity in the coronary microvascular bed in patients
with congenital heart disease were searched using the PubMed database. To date, coronary microvascular
dysfunction in congenital heart disease patients is incompletely understood because studies
on this topic are rare and heterogeneous. The prevalence, extent, and pathophysiological relevance
of coronary microvascular dysfunction in congenital heart diseases remain to be elucidated.
Herein, we discuss what is currently known about coronary microvascular dysfunction in congenital
heart disease and future directions.