Correlation of right ventricular outflow tract residual disease on post-op transesophageal echocardiography and discharge transthoracic echocardiography after tetralogy of fallot repair.

Abstract

Post-operative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is standard of care to evaluate for residual disease and quality of surgical repair. The residual lesion score (RLS) as defined by the pediatric heart network explored the impact of residual lesions on outcomes using discharge transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE). In tetralogy of fallot with pulmonary stenosis (TOF/PS), the residual right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) gradient is one marker of quality of repair. Given peri-operative differences in hemodynamics, this study aims to define the correlation between TEE and discharge TTE RVOT gradient. This single center retrospective study included patients with TOF/PS undergoing primary repair with accompanying perioperative TEE and discharge TTE. TEE and TTE measurements were compared. An RLS based on the type of repair was assigned to the post-operative TEE based on the RVOT doppler velocity. TEE RVOT peak velocity and VTI correlated with TTE RVOT peak velocity (Spearman rank correlation coefficient = 0.62 (p < 0.001)) and VTI (Spearman rank correlation coefficient = 0.66 (p < 0.001)) at time of discharge. Application of RLS at the time of the TEE does not accurately reflect RLS at the time of discharge based on current criteria (p-value based on McNemar's Chi-squared test = 0.24). The ability of post-op TEE measurement to predict need for re-intervention is just as effective as TTE. On ROC analysis, the TEE RVOT peak velocity had similar AUC (0.672) compared to discharge TTE RVOT peak velocity (0.721) on predicting need for re-intervention. After surgical repair of TOF/PS, there is a strong correlation between post-op TEE and discharge RVOT peak velocity. TEE offers a chance to guide immediate re-intervention if needed and may be applied to severe residual post-op RVOT peak velocity. Further studies are needed to identify RLS based on TEE and its relationship to outcomes and intraoperative management.