Assessment of pulmonary arteries in patients with tetralogy of Fallot

Aim. The study aimed to evaluate the size of pulmonary arteries in patients with tetralogy of Fallot during preoperative and intraoperative stages and to find out the influence of preoperative sizes on the surgical management. Methods. Between January 2015 and May 2018, 50 patients with tetralogy of Fallot younger seven months underwent primary complete or palliative repair. The data obtained from patients' files and include echocardiography, computed tomography and surgical reports. Dimensions of right and left pulmonary arteries were analyzed by calculating the Z-score and Nakata indices. Results. Z-scores of the left and right pulmonary arteries were significantly smaller by echocardiography comparing to computed tomography (p<0.01). Z-scores of left and right pulmonary arteries measuring by computed tomography were also smaller than the size measured during surgery (p=0.05). Nakata index according to computed tomography was significantly smaller (p<0.05) than this index calculated from surgical reports. Conclusion. In patients with tetralogy of Fallot, the size of pulmonary arteries according to the visualization methods is smaller than size measured during surgery. Intraoperative sizing of pulmonary arteries could influence surgical management, expanding indications for complete repair in some patients. Received 6 July 2018. Revised 24 August 2018. Accepted 28 August 2018. Funding: The study did not have sponsorship. Conflict of interest: Author declare no conflict of interest. AcknowledgmentWe would like to express our gratitude to Ya.A. Yermolenko for Figure 1 used in the article.