Quality of life after repair of tetralogy of Fallot.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the quality of life in individuals with corrected tetralogy of Fallot.


METHODS
Questionnaires concerning quality of life were sent to all 87 surviving patients aged between 16 and 40 years who had undergone intracardiac repair of tetralogy of Fallot and follow-up in the Wessex Cardiothoracic Unit, and to 87 age and sex matched controls, with medically treated haemodynamically insignificant ventricular septal defects.


RESULTS
The only significant difference found between the cases and controls was in requirements for schooling, where those with tetralogy of Fallot were more likely to require additional educational help at school (p = 0.044). For all other aspects of quality of life examined by the questionnaire, including social and genetic history, exercise ability, and health related quality of life, no significant differences were found. Different operative techniques, such as transjunctional patching, right ventriculotomy, and previous palliative shunting, did not affect the quality of life of our population with Tetralogy of Fallot, on average twenty years after their surgery, although the range of operative techniques was limited. Neither age at surgery, nor time since surgery, was correlated with measurements of quality of life.


CONCLUSIONS
Those who have undergone surgical correction of tetralogy of Fallot have a normal quality of life, with few differences compared to controls.
Walker
Woolf T
WT
Wessex Clinical Genetics Service, Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton, UK.
Temple
I Karen
IK
Gnanapragasam
James P
JP
Goddard
Jonathan R
JR
Brown
Elspeth M
EM
D000328:Adult; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D002892:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22 / Q000235:genetics; D004522:Educational Status; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012008:Recurrence; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013771:Tetralogy of Fallot / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D006113:United Kingdom