Analysis of adults with and without complex ventricular arrhythmias after repair of tetralogy of Fallot.
Forty-four adult patients with tetralogy of Fallot were studied while clinically well at a mean of 14 years (range 5 to 27) after intracardiac repair to examine the association of postoperative ventricular arrhythmias with historical and postoperative hemodynamic data. Twenty-two patients who demonstrated during 24 hour ambulatory monitoring or maximal graded treadmill exercise testing, or both, ventricular premature beats that were multiform, repetitive or increased in frequency during exercise or recovery after exercise were found to differ from patients without such ventricular premature beats in four respects. The patients with complex or exercise-induced ventricular premature beats had a higher right ventricular systolic blood pressure, a higher incidence of residual left to right intracardiac shunt, lower cardiac index and more frequently abnormal left ventricular ejection fraction measured by rest and exercise-gated radionuclide ventriculography. Adults with complex or exercise-induced ventricular premature beats after intracardiac repair of tetralogy of Fallot are characterized by suboptimal hemodynamic repair and preclinical left ventricular dysfunction.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D002302:Cardiac Output; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013318:Stroke Volume; D013771:Tetralogy of Fallot / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*