Echocardiographic characteristics of children under 16 years old with tetralogy of Fallot operated at Cho Ray Hospital

Tóm tắt

Objective: Describe the echocardiographic characteristics of patients under 16 years old with tetralogy of Fallot before total repair surgery at Cho Ray Hospital.

Subjects and methods: Describe retrospective case series of echocardiographic characteristics of children under 16 years old with tetralogy of Fallot before total repair surgery, from February 2023 to February 2024.

Results: 23 patients were included in the study from February 2023 to February 2024. The median age of patients was 10.5 months (5 – 34.5). Female is 65.2%. Median weight is 7.8 kg (6 – 9.5). Median SpO₂ was 80.0% (70.0 – 88.0). The small left ventricle accounted for a high proportion of 56.5%. Right ventricular dilatation at the base, mid, and long diameters accounted for 30.4%, 39.1%  and 30.4%, respectively. 69.6%, 56.5%, 21.7%, 8.7% of patients had pulmonary valve ring, pulmonary trunk, right pulmonary artery, left pulmonary artery small, respectively. Medium and large membranous ventricular septal defect accounted for 65.2% and 34.8%, respectively. The median aortic overriding percentage of patients was 30.0% (30.0-45.0). 100.0% of patients had right ventricular hypertrophy. Most patients had stenosis at all three locations below the valve, at the valve, and above the pulmonary valve, accounting for 52.2%. The most common associated defect was patent ductus arteriosus (69.6%). Echocardiography was quite accurate in diagnosing patient characteristics when compared with surgical reports. 8.7% of patients had inaccurate assessment of pulmonary valve leaflet characteristics.

Conclusion: Echocardiography is non-invasive, safe, has good correlation with intraoperative characteristics, and can be thoroughly applied at all times before, during, and after surgery. Improved echocardiographic methods are needed to overcome the limitations in assessing pulmonary valve characteristics in tetralogy of Fallot.