s Assessment of functional capacity in children and adolescents following Tetrology of Fallot repair
Research Abstract
Background: More attention directed to long-term follow-up of residual
disease, exercise performance and health-related quality of life (QOL) in
Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) with the steady decline in mortality rates after
surgical correction. The purposes of this study were to assess the
functional capacity in young children following the repair of TOF, to assess
the influence of different variables related to the surgical repair on exercise
testing and finally to evaluate the health related quality of life outcome for
those patients, also to detect its correlation with their exercise performance.
Subjects and Methods: This study was conducted on 30 children (22 boys
and 8 girls) operated on for TOF compared to 30 healthy age matched
control children. The patients mean age at time of the study was 12.4 ±
2.71 years (range 8–18 years). Patients were subjected to cardiac magnetic
resonance image (CMRI) examination, treadmill exercise testing according
to Bruce protocol and the pediatric QOL inventory both child and parent
forms. Results: No statistical significant difference between study and
control regarding their exercise capacity. Non-significant correlations were
observed between exercise performance and either CMRI variables or
variables related to surgery, while the pediatric QOL Inventory (PedsQL)
for both child and parent forms showed a statistically significant difference
with p= 0.002 and 0.0001 respectively. Significant correlations were
observed between PedsQL and exercise performance indices maximum
oxygen consumption and maximum heart rate where (r=0.435, p=0.016)
and (r=0.477, p=0.008) respectively. Conclusion: Exercise tolerance in
young patients after total correction of TOF is generally good irrespective
of the age at surgery, follow up duration since surgery and all CMRI
findings, despite that decrease in their QOL was observed with preserved
physical health and reported problems in the psychosocial health.
Key words: Tetralogy of Fallot, exercise testing, Quality of life
Research Keywords
s Assessment of functional capacity in children and adolescents following Tetrology of Fallot repair