Marzena Barczuk-Falęcka

• Medical University of Warsaw

Background/Objectives: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is used to diagnose and monitor the course of acute myocarditis in adults and children. This study aimed to assess the frequency of persistent inflammation at follow-up CMR and to look for predictors of ongoing active changes in CMR in children with myocarditis. Methods: This retrospective stu...

We report on the case of a 16-year-old boy with myocarditis developing after the third dose of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. The patient presented with fever and retrosternal chest pain two days after immunisation. On admission, the boy was in good condition, with stable vitals. Elevated serum troponins and electrocardiographic repolarisation abnormalitie...

Background Pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) is an inflammatory disease occurring in a small minority of children a few weeks after acute infection. Cardiac manifestations are common, but little is known about the potentially persistent heart changes after PIMS-TS. Purpose To analyze the fr...

The aim of the study was to assess the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in the diagnosis of idiopathic VA in children. This retrospective single-centre study included a total of 80 patients with idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia that underwent routine CMR imaging between 2016 and 2020 at our institution. All patients underwent a 3.0...

Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) volume is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Data regarding the influence of extremely intensive training on CVD are scarce. We compared EAT volume among ultra-marathon runners and in the sedentary control group, and assessed the correlations between EAT and risk factors of coronary artery disease (CAD). E...

A better understanding of the left ventricle (LV) and right ventricle (RV) functioning would help with the differentiation between athlete’s heart and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). We aimed to analyse deformation parameters in endurance athletes relative to patients with DCM using cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT). The study incl...

Background Many children presenting with myocarditis may not fully recover and have long‐term complications, including dilated cardiomyopathy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has a potential for early detection of persistent changes with long‐term implications, but is not performed routinely in the monitoring of myocarditis. Purpose To monitor ad...

Background: Native myocardial T1 and T2 relaxation times are diagnostic tools used in clinical practice for adult and pediatric populations. Use of a mapping technique requires accurate knowledge of normal ranges in healthy patients, which is lacking in pediatric populations. Purpose: To establish normal values for native T1 and T2 mapping in he...

PURPOSE: There is a direct reverse dose-effect relationship between the amount of physical activity and cardiovascular risk. It is unknown whether this is true for extreme, persistent endurance training. The aim of the study was to assess structural changes of the heart in long-time ultra-marathon runners with special focus on myocardial fibrosis u...

Introduction The role of three-dimensional echocardiography (3D-ECHO) chamber quantification in children is still underestimated. Material and methods In 43 children 3D-ECHO measurements of end-diastolic (EDV) and end-systolic ventricular volumes (ESV) were compared to cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) using Bland-Altman analysis and linear regress...

Both regular physical activity and hypertension may be related to increased myocardial thickness, but the interplay between these two factors in causing cardiac remodeling in athletes is still a matter of debate. The aim of this study was to analyze the relation between resting and peak exercise blood pressure (BP) and myocardial hypertrophy in hea...

BACKGROUND: Focusing on patients with arrhythmia, the aims of this study was to assess ventricular function in children using three-dimensional echocardiography (3D-ECHO) and to compare the results to those obtained with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). METHODS: The study group consisted of 43 children in whom 3D-ECHO and CMR were performed. Twent...

Background: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is the gold standard for heart size, volume and mass calculation, however, dedicated software is needed to perform the segmentation process. The aim of the study was to validate the performance of an open-source CMR segmentation tool against the latest version of vendor-validated CMR42 software. Materia...

Cardiac haemangioma in children is a very rare benign tumour, which can lead to life-threating complications such as stroke or sudden death. There is no obvious correlation with age, sex, or family history. Symptoms depend on the location of the mass and can be non-specific. The tumour may be detected by echocardiography, but cardiac magnetic reson...

Physical training is associated with changes in cardiac morphology called the “athlete’s heart”, which has not been sufficiently studied in children. The aim of the study was to analyze cardiac adaptation to exercise in pre-adolescent soccer players. Thirty-six soccer players (mean age 10.1 ± 1.4 years) and 24 non-athlete male controls (10.4 ± 1.7...

Computed tomography with its excellent spatial and temporal resolution remains a valuable diagnostic modality in pediatrics. On the other hand an increasing attention has been placed on the radiation risks associated with CT imaging, especially in children. In recent years, many advances in CT hardware and software, for example, automatic exposure...

The purpose of the study was to analyse whether prolonged and regular physical training in children leads to changes in myocardial systolic deformation and rotational mechanics. For that purpose, cardiac MRI feature tracking was performed retrospectively in 35 pre-adolescent male soccer players and 20 matched controls. There were no changes in glob...

Aim: To assess the accuracy of simple cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) parameters for first-line analysis of right ventricle (RV) dysfunction in children to identify those who require in-depth analysis and those in whom simple assessment is sufficient. Materials and methods: Sixty paediatric CMR studies were analysed. The followin...

Cardiac haemangioma in children is a very rare benign tumour, which can lead to life-threating complications such as stroke or sudden death. There is no obvious correlation with age, sex, or family history. Symptoms depend on the location of the mass and can be non-specific. The tumour may be detected by echocardiog-raphy, but cardiac magnetic reso...

Background Hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG) is a rare imaging finding in children. It can be an important manifestation of severe diseases such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in neonates or bowel wall rupture in older children. However, there are many other diseases presenting with HPVG that do not necessarily require a surgical intervention....