Congenital heart disease
Comparison of Outcomes in Adults With Congenitally Corrected Transposition With Situs Inversus Versus Situs Solitus

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjcard.2012.07.039Get rights and content

The long-term outcome of patients with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries is mainly determined by progressive morphologically tricuspid valve regurgitation, heart block, atrial arrhythmias, and/or systemic ventricular dysfunction. Situs abnormalities have been reported in ≤34% of cases, but whether clinical differences exist between a situs inversus and situs solitus arrangement has not yet been studied. The clinical records of 38 adults with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (mean age 40 ± 15 years) followed for a mean period of 7.4 years were reviewed. Of these 38 patients, 8 presented with situs inversus and 30 with situs solitus. No significant differences were found between the 2 groups in age, gender, ventricular septal defect, pulmonary tract stenosis, previous surgical repair, or duration of follow-up. However, none of the patients with situs inversus presented with an Ebstein-like anomaly of the morphologically tricuspid valve and none developed nonoperative-related complete atrioventricular block compared to 15 (50%; p = 0.013) and 11 (42%; p = 0.032) of the patients with situs solitus, respectively. At follow-up, 2 patients with situs inversus (25%) presented with sustained atrial arrhythmia, severe tricuspid regurgitation, or severe systemic right ventricular systolic dysfunction compared to 22 (73%) of 30 those with situs solitus (p = 0.034). No patient with situs inversus presented with cardiac death or severe heart failure compared to 12 (40%) of 30 with situs solitus (p = 0.038). In conclusion, Ebstein-like anomaly or spontaneous complete atrioventricular block are rare in patients with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries with situs inversus, and late complications are uncommon. The long-term outcome of patients with situs inversus was significantly better than that for patients with situs solitus.

Section snippets

Methods

The clinical records of all adult patients aged >18 years, diagnosed with ccTGA, and referred to the Adult Congenital Heart Disease unit at La Paz University Hospital (Madrid, Spain) from January 1990 to January 2012 were reviewed. The diagnosis of ccTGA, regardless of the situs visceroatrial or ventricular looping, was determined by demonstrating discordance of both the AV and the ventriculoarterial connections using 2-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) or cardiac magnetic resonance imaging

Results

A total of 38 patients diagnosed with ccTGA and with potentially suitable anatomy for biventricular repair in the presence of balanced ventricles constituted the study population (Table 1). The mean age at the last examination was 40 ± 15 years and 21 were men (55%). Associated anomalies, including VSD, pulmonary stenosis or atresia, complete AV block, or Ebstein-like anomaly, were present in 33 patients (87%). Surgical repair of associated intracardiac lesions had been performed in 13 patients.

Discussion

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the long-term outcome of adults with ccTGA with situs inversus. Our results have shown that this anomaly should not be regarded as a mirror image of ccTGA with situs solitus because of the important anatomic and physiologic dissimilitude between both types of atrial arrangements. In contrast to what happens in situs solitus, spontaneous AV block or Ebstein-like anomaly of the morphologically tricuspid valve is very uncommon in

References (30)

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