Circulating adrenomedullin [AM] in children with congenital cyanotic heart disease

ABSTRACT

This study included 16 children [11 males and 5 females] with congenital cyanotic heart disease without pulmonary hypertension [PH] or heart failure [HF] with age ranged from 2 to 7 years [group 1] and 16 children [9 males and 7 females] with atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia [AVRT] with age ranged from 4 to 9 years as a non-cyanotic controls [group 2]. All children were subjected to clinical examination, complete blood count [CBC], serum creatinine, arterial oxygen saturation, X-ray chest, electrocardiogram [ECG], echocardiogram, cardiac catheterization and plasma levels of AM in samples of pulmonary artery blood [PAB], pulmonary venous blood [PVB] and femoral vein blood [FVB]. The results of this study revealed that the plasma levels of AM at the three sites of sampling were significantly higher in group 1 than that in group 2, and also showed that in group 1 there was a significantly higher plasma level of AM in PAB than its levels in PVB and FVB, but no significant difference between its level in FVB and that in PVB