ABSTRACT
Introduction: Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is the most common cyanotic congenital heart disease. Surgical correction has improved survival but re-intervention is often required. Objectives: The objective is to assess outcomes after surgical repair of TOF, long-term follow-up, and factors that influence these results. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted in a tertiary care center. Records of patients diagnosed with TOF from 1992 to 2019 (37 years) were retrieved from a detailed database. Patients who underwent complete correction were grouped according to diagnosis, the technique utilized in surgical repair, need for staged repair, and syndromic association. Univariate actuarial and event-free survival analysis was performed. The endpoint for an event was death or re-intervention. Results: A total of 230 patients were diagnosed with TOF and 174 patients underwent complete surgical repair. At 40 years postoperatively, survival was 96%. Actuarial survival was independent of syndromic associations, anatomical diagnosis, type of surgery, or previous shunt. Event-free survival (EFS) survival was 8.12%. EFS was significantly worse for patients with pulmonary atresia (PA) (Hazard ratio, 4.1125; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2654-13.3657; P < 0.0001) and for those that required homograft/conduit. The median duration for EFS was 22.73 years, 19.58 years, and 9.12 years for transannular patch (TAP), pulmonary valve-sparing (PVS), and homograft group, respectively. The survival curve for the PVS group merged with that of TAP 20 years postoperatively. Similarly, it merged at 22 years for staged versus primary repair and at 22.73 years for syndromic versus nonsyndromic patients. A weak correlation was found between age at surgery and event-free duration (cc, 0.309; P < 0.0001). The need for TAP was not influenced by the previous palliation, χ2(1, n = 154) = 3.36, P = 0.0667, or with interval to complete correction after the shunt procedure (P = 0.9672). Conclusions: Total correction of TOF has low perioperative mortality and good long-term survival, but the need for re-interventions is high. This study demonstrated that patients requiring homograft/conduit and those with a diagnosis of PA had worse outcomes. Comparison between different surgical groups showed merging of survival curves in follow-up that signifies gradual loss of survival advantage over time.
ABSTRACT
The negative effects of high normal glucose on cognitive function were previously reported in euglycemic individuals of middle age and the elderly population. This study aimed at examining the effect of baseline blood glucose levels on spatial ability, specifically verticality perception on the computerized rod and frame test (CRFT) in young healthy adults. 63 healthy male medical students (age range from 18-23 years), of whom 30 were non-fasting outside the month of Ramadan and 33 fasting during Ramadan of the year 2016, were recruited in order to create varying degrees of glycemia during which verticality perception was carried out. Baseline blood glucose reading was obtained prior to commencing the CRFT test. Blood glucose levels at the time of testing decreased as the duration between the last meal and testing increased. A blood glucose range of 62-117 mg/dl was achieved among participants for this study. Linear regression analysis showed that blood glucose level at testing correlated positively with all alignment spatial error parameters, indicating a probable reduction of spatial perception ability with higher blood glucose levels. These results are consistent with other cognitive studies in older healthy humans and emphasize the critical impact of early glucose dys-homeostasis on cognitive function. They also indicate that elevated blood glucose may affect cognitive functioning outside of the usual complications of diabetes.
