Trans-Catheter Palliation in Tetralogy of Fallot Patients: Complications & Challenges

Objective: To identify the complications of Transcatheter palliation in Tetralogy of Fallot patients. Study Design: Analytical Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Paediatric Cardiology Department, AFIC/NIHD, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jul to Dec 2022. Methodology: This Analytical Cross-sectional study was conducted in n=54 patients of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) who underwent Transcatheter palliation procedure. Cases were selected by using non-probability consecutive sampling. Patients with isolated pulmonary stenosis, complex congenital heart and Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia were excluded from the study. Data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS version-24:00. In descriptive statistics, Mean±SD were calculated for continuous variables while frequency (%) for categorical variables. To find out the association between categorical variables, Chi-square test was used. p-value of <0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: Out of 54 patients, 32(59.3%) were males and females were 22(40.7%). Mean age was 11.87±7.34 months. Right ventricular outflow tract ballooning was done in 39(72.2%) and right ventricular outflow tract stenting was done in 15(27.8%) patients. Transient arrhythmias 28(51.9%) were the most commonly encountered complications. Conclusion: Transcatheter palliation is becoming the first line of management in Tetralogy of Fallot patients because of better outcomes, ease of performance and safety profile. Working professionally can yield a safe invasive procedure of balloon pulmonary valvotomy and stenting in these patients.