Preoperative management for tricuspid regurgitation in hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
BACKGROUND
Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is an important finding in hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). The aim of the present study was to investigate changes in the degree of TR after the preoperative management of HLHS with mechanical ventilation, and whether the improvement of TR under preoperative management would affect the short-term prognosis of Norwood operation.


METHODS
Clinical and echocardiographic data of 55 patients with HLHS who underwent preoperative echocardiography and management at Department of Pediatrics, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, were retrospectively reviewed. Preoperative management with mechanical ventilation was performed in 31 of these patients. Based on echocardiography the 55 patients were divided into a trivial-mild TR group (group A) and a moderate-severe TR group (group B).


RESULTS
After preoperative management, TR improved in six of the 31 patients and was unchanged in 25; in five of the nine group B patients, TR before management improved to the level of group A after management. In-hospital deaths after surgery included 17 of the 48 patients in group A and five of the six in group B, but there was only one death in the five patients for whom TR improved from group B to group A level.


CONCLUSIONS
Preoperative management of HLHS resulted in an improvement in the degree of TR. The short-term prognosis was better for the patients in group A than those in group B, and so preoperative management is useful for HLHS patients, especially those with moderate or severe TR at admission, with the exception of severe dysplasia of tricuspid valve.
Department of Pediatrics, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
Kenji
K
Baba
Shin-ichi
S
Ohtsuki
Masahiro
M
Kamada
Kouichi
K
Kataoka
Naoki
N
Ohno
Yoshio
Y
Okamoto
Mamoru
M
Takeuchi
Tatsuo
T
Iwasaki
Shunji
S
Sano
Tsuneo
T
Morishima
D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018636:Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014262:Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D014463:Ultrasonography