Caring for the Aging Patient With Adult Congenital Heart Disease: A Review of Cardiac and Noncardiac Comorbidities

As the demographics of congenital heart disease (CHD) have shifted, there are now more adults living with CHD than children in North America. This presents unprecedented challenges as patients with CHD acquire noncardiac comorbidities and seek care for a variety of reasons, including noncardiac surgery and emergency department (ED) visits. CHD shifts from a one organ problem to a multisystem disease and requires a team of specialists to maintain high-quality longitudinal care. In this review, we summarize the challenges patients with CHD and their providers face as they age. We review the demographics of CHD and health care utilization. We examine the rates of noncardiac comorbidities and the current quality of care received by adult patients with CHD.

Cardiac Evaluation and Monitoring of Patients Undergoing Noncardiac Surgery

Surgical management of disease has a tremendous impact on our health system. Millions of people worldwide undergo surgeries every year. Cardiovascular complications in the perioperative period are one of the most common events leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Although such events are very small in number, they are associated with a high mortality rate making it essential for physicians to understand the importance of perioperative cardiovascular risk assessment and evaluation. Its involves a detailed process of history taking, patient's medical profile, medications being used, functional status of the patient, and knowledge about the surgical procedure and its inherent risks. Different risk assessment tools and calculators have also been developed to aid in this process, each with their own advantages and limitations. After such a comprehensive evaluation, a physician will be able to provide a risk assessment or it may all lead to further testing if it is believed that a change in management after such testing will help to reduce perioperative morbidity and mortality. There is extensive literature on the significance of multiple perioperative testing modalities and how they can change management. The purpose of our review is to provide a concise but comprehensive analysis on all such aspects of perioperative cardiovascular risk assessment for noncardiac surgeries and provide a basic methodology toward such assessment and decision making.

Anesthetic considerations in a child with unrepaired D-transposition of great arteries undergoing noncardiac surgery

D-transposition of great arteries (D-TGA) is the most common cyanotic congenital heart disease diagnosed at birth. There is ventriculoarterial discordance leading to parallel circulation. The postnatal survival depends on intercirculatory mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood at various levels through atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect or patent ductus arteriosus. The anesthesiologist must have an understanding of concepts of shunting and other long-term consequences of transposition of great arteries (TGA) in order to tailor the anesthetic technique to optimize the hemodynamic variables and oxygenation in the perioperative period. The preoperative evaluation includes echocardiography to delineate the type of TGA, associated lesions and extent and direction of shunts. Oxygen saturation is influenced by the ratio of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) to systemic vascular resistance. Thus, care should be taken to avoid an increase in PVR which can lead to decreased pulmonary blood flow leading to hypoxia. We report a case of an 8-year-old child with unrepaired D-TGA, who presented to us for craniotomy for drainage of brain abscess.

The increasing importance of percutaneous mechanical circulatory assist device therapy in heart failure management

Introduction:

Advances in medical and surgical care have made it possible for an increasing number of patients with Congenital Heart disease (CHD) to live into adulthood. Transposition of the great vessels (TGV) is the most common cyanotic congenital cardiac disease where the right ventricle serves as systemic ventricle. It is not uncommon for these patients to have systemic ventricular failure requiring transplantation.

Study Design:

Hemodynamic decompensation in these patients can be swift and difficult to manage. Increasingly percutaneous LVAD's such as the Impella (Abiomed, Mass, USA) are gaining popularity in these situations owing to their relative ease of placement, both in and outside of the operating room.

Conclusion:

In this paper we demonstrate that Impella (IMP) CP placement through the axillary artery approach shows to be suitable option for short term cardiac support and improvement of end organ perfusion in anticipation of cardiac transplantation.

Anesthetic management of a child with corrected transposition of great vessels undergoing non-cardiac surgery

We describe the successful anesthetic management of a 14-year-old child, a corrected case of transposition of great vessels in childhood and presently with residual atrial septal defect, peripheral cyanosis, and neurological deficit of lower limb presented for tendoachillis lengthening.

Early developmental outcomes following major noncardiac and cardiac surgery in term infants: a population-based study

OBJECTIVE

To ascertain developmental differences between term infants after major noncardiac surgery and cardiac surgery compared with healthy control infants in New South Wales, Australia.

STUDY DESIGN

This prospective population-based cohort study enrolled infants between August 1, 2006, and December 31, 2008, who required major noncardiac surgery within the first 90 days of life. Developmental outcomes were compared in these children, cohorts of term infants requiring cardiac surgery, and healthy controls. Infants were assessed at 1 year of age using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (BSID-III).

RESULTS

Of the 784 infants enrolled, 688 (90.2%) of infants alive at 1 year were assessed. Of these, 539 infants were term and were included in the present analysis. Compared with controls, the infants who underwent cardiac surgery had significantly lower (P < .001) mean scores in all 5 BSID-III subscales, and the infants who underwent noncardiac surgery had significantly lower (P < .05) mean scores in 4 of the 5 BSID-III subscales. The greatest difference was in the incidence of gross motor delay in both the cardiac surgery group (OR, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.16-0.41) and the noncardiac surgery group (OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.26-0.63).

CONCLUSION

This unique population-based prospective study compared the developmental outcomes of infants who underwent major noncardiac surgery and cardiac surgery. Major surgery in infants was found to be significantly associated with developmental delay at 1 year of age compared with control infants. These data have important implications for interventions and clinical review in the first year of life.