"Health-Related Quality of Life in Operated Adult Patients with Tetralogy of Fallot and Correlation with Advanced Imaging Indexes and Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test" A Narrative Review

Abstract

Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are considered to be the second leading cause of death during infancy and childhood. However, due to advanced imaging techniques, more than 90% of children with complex CHD survive into adulthood, increasing the prevalence of CHD in the population. Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) is considered to be the most common, complex, cyanotic CHD. Health is an important determinant of a patient's quality of life and this drove physicians to examine ToF patient's health related quality of life (HRQOL), in order to improve medical and surgical interventions. The purpose of this narrative review was to identify parameters derived through modalities, such as cardiovascular magnetic resonance, echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise testing and correlate them with repaired ToF (rToF) patient's perceived HRQOL. It is widely proven that rToF patients have worse physical capabilities than healthy population and this can be safely attributed to their cardiac condition. Unfortunately, rToF population is relatively small, making most of the included trials reliable and unable to uniformly agree to the same results. Further investigation is mandatory in order to discover those parameters that will allow physicians to better understand HRQOL in this population, leading to better medical management and rehabilitation.