Natural Course of Adult Ebstein Anomaly When Treated according to Current Recommendation

Early prenatal diagnosis of tricuspid valve dysplasia

OBJECTIVE

To report our experience in early prenatal diagnosis of six cases of tricuspid valve dysplasia (TVD) and to delineate echocardiographic features.

METHODS

This was a retrospective study which included all the women who attended our clinic for early fetal screening sonography, between 2001 and 2018. The ultrasound screening was done at 11-16 weeks of gestation, and included an anatomic fetal scan and Doppler imaging. The diagnosis of TVD was done based on sonographic features visualized on four chamber view and color mapping of the valve. Complete fetal echocardiography was carried out to rule out additional heart malformations.

RESULTS

Out of 34,933 early prenatal transvaginal ultrasound screening examinations, six cases of TVD were diagnosed. Five of the pregnancies were terminated as per parental request, and one fetus was delivered at term and died shortly after birth. In three fetuses a chromosomal analysis was performed, one had trisomy 21, one had an abnormal CGH, and the third had a normal karyotype. In two fetuses an autopsy was performed and the diagnosis of TVD was confirmed in both.

CONCLUSION

Early prenatal detection of TVD is possible and may aid in parental counseling. Larger studies, examining the outcome of TVD should be considered.

Heart failure risk predictions in adult patients with congenital heart disease: a systematic review

To summarise existing heart failure (HF) risk prediction models and describe the risk factors for HF-related adverse outcomes in adult patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). We performed a systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane databases from January 1996 to December 2018. Studies were eligible if they developed multivariable models for risk prediction of decompensated HF in adult patients with CHD (ACHD), death in patients with ACHD-HF or both, or if they reported corresponding predictors. A standardised form was used to extract information from selected studies. Twenty-five studies met the inclusion criteria and all studies were at moderate to high risk of bias. One study derived a model to predict the risk of a composite outcome (HF, death or arrhythmia) with a c-statistic of 0.85. Two studies applied an existing general HF model to patients with ACHD but did not report model performance. Twenty studies presented predictors of decompensated HF, and four examined patient characteristics associated with mortality (two reported predictors of both). A wide variation in population characteristics, outcome of interest and candidate risk factors was observed between studies. Although there were substantial inconsistencies regarding which patient characteristics were predictive of HF-related adverse outcomes, brain natriuretic peptide, New York Heart Association class and CHD lesion characteristics were shown to be important predictors. To date, evidence in the published literature is insufficient to accurately profile patients with ACHD. High-quality studies are required to develop a unique ACHD-HF prediction model and confirm the predictive roles of potential risk factors.

Mid-term outcomes of individualized surgeries in patients with Ebstein's anomaly

The variable anatomy of Ebstein's anomaly leads to its various surgical procedures. The long-term outcomes of different operations were not well established. Thirty-five patients with Ebstein's anomaly who underwent operations from 2006 to 2018 in our department were retrospectively reviewed. Individualized surgical plans were performed according to the preoperative echocardiography and surgeons' preference. Tricuspid repair, either Danielson's or Carpentier's technique, was the primary choice in patients who had sufficient tricuspid leaflets and adequate right ventricle, while tricuspid replacement was used when a reliable repair is not achievable. Additional bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt was performed in those who had unstable hemodynamics despite of high central venous pressure after separation from cardiopulmonary bypass. The perioperative and follow-up data were collected. The age was 26.9 (0.6-54) years [16 children (age < 14, and 19 adults (age ≥ 14)]. Preoperative tricuspid regurgitation was severe in 30, moderate in 4, and mild in the remaining 1 patient. Preoperative cardiac-associated malformations include 20 atrial septal defects, 2 ventricular septal defects, 2 pulmonary stenosis, and 1 sub aortic ridge, and these were operated simultaneously. Among all the surgical patients, 2 needed additional reoperation during the same admission, and ultimately, 29 patients had biventricular repair, including 21 tricuspid repair and 8 replacements. The other 6 patients had cavopulmonary connection and achieved 1.5 ventricular repair (3 tricuspid repair and 3 replacements). In all the 24 tricuspid repair patients, Danielson's procedure was used in 17, while Carpentier's technique was used in the other 7 patients. The average cardiopulmonary bypass time was 90 ± 28 min and cross-clamp time was 48 ± 24min. There were 2 perioperative deaths (5.7%) and no third-degree atrioventricular block. The postoperative in hospital stay was 13.7 ± 9.6 days. In the 33 survivors who were followed up at a median of 29.2 months, 6 patients had severe tricuspid regurgitation, and 2 of them underwent tricuspid replacement. The 5-year freedom from severe tricuspid dysfunction or reoperation was 78.5%, and no difference was found between children and adults, neither between different surgical choices. The surgeries of Ebstein's anomaly were variable, and individualized operation achieved reasonable short- and mid-term results. However, severe tricuspid regurgitation during the follow-up was not neglectable, and reoperation in such cases also achieved good outcomes. New repair strategy such as cone repair may be considered.

Contemporary outcomes and mortality risks of Ebstein anomaly: A single-center experience in Thailand

BACKGROUND

The increasing number of patients with Ebstein anomaly (EA) surviving into adulthood implies improvements in the treatments for the complex lesion. We revisited the clinical outcomes of patients with EA to demonstrate their "real world" survival.

OBJECTIVES

To identify the survival and predictors of mortality in patients with EA who underwent medical or surgical management in the present era.

METHODS

All patients who had EA with atrioventricular concordance between 1994 and 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Baseline characteristics, initial echocardiographic findings, treatments, and outcomes were explored. The survival analysis was performed at the end of 2017. A multivariate analysis was used to assess mortality risks.

RESULTS

A total of 153 patients (25.4 ± 20.4 years, 60% female) were analyzed. Of these, 89 patients had been diagnosed with EA in childhood. During the follow-up [median time of 5.2 years (3 days-23.5 years)], 32 patients (20.9%) died due to major cardiac adverse events. The overall survival at 1, 5, and 10 years were 89%, 82.2%, and 79%, respectively. Of the total 153 patients, 64 patients underwent at least one surgical intervention [median age of 17 years (1 day-64.4 years)]. The survival at 1, 5, and 10 years were 87.5%, 82.4%, and 77.7%, respectively, in patients with EA surgery. This survival is comparable to the survival of 89 nonoperated patients with EA: 89.9%, 87.5%, and 81.8%, at 1, 5, and 10 years, respectively. The significant predictors of mortality were: age at diagnosis ≤2 years, tricuspid valve (TV) z-score >3.80, TV displacement >19.5 mm/m² , presence of severe tricuspid regurgitation, and absence of forward flow across the pulmonic valve at the initial diagnosis.

CONCLUSION

Patients with EA had a moderately good survival in this era. In this paper, we report five simple predictors of death in this patient population.

Ebstein Anomaly and Sudden Childhood Death

A 13-year-old girl is reported who died suddenly and unexpectedly in her sleep from previously undiagnosed Ebstein anomaly. At autopsy, there was dilatation of the right atrium with marked dilatation of the right auricle and apical displacement of the tricuspid valve into the right ventricular cavity with atrialization of the upper portion of the right ventricle. There were also prominent dysplastic changes in both the septal and posterior leaflets of the tricuspid valve with thickening of the valve and fusion of leaflets to the wall of the ventricle. Histology of the myocardium showed focal, minor microscopic areas of interstitial fibrosis with marked fibrous dysplasia and thickening of the tricuspid valve. Lethal arrhythmias occur in this condition because of the geographical relationship of the conduction system to the abnormal anatomical structures. As adolescents who died suddenly are often minimally symptomatic, cases will rarely present de novo to forensic autopsy.