Abnormal biventricular performance in asymptomatic adolescents late after repaired Tetralogy of Fallot: Combined two-dimensional speckle tracking and three-dimensional echocardiography study

Abstract Background The aim of this prospective study was to assess biventricular performance in asymptomatic adolescents with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) using 2D speckle tracking and real time 3D echocardiography simultaneously. Methods We studied 31 patients with repaired TOF (M/F: 22/9, age: 16.1 ± 6.1 yrs) who had history of cardiac surgery with mean follow-up duration of 12.8 years, and 32 age- and sex-matched normal individuals (M/F: 23/9, age: 16.6 ± 5.1 yrs). All subjects underwent speckle tracking and 3D echocardiography, electrocardiogram, treadmill, and blood sampling for measurement of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP). Results Compared to the control group, the TOF group had higher BNP level (31.8 ± 21.4 vs 14.1 ± 12.4 pg/ml, p p p p  = 0.01) and global time to peak longitudinal strain (r = 0.484, p p p p p p Conclusion Our results suggest asymptomatic adolescents with repaired TOF had abnormal biventricular myocardial performance, as demonstrated by combined 2D speckle-tracking and 3D echocardiography. The implications of these findings for management of adolescents late after repaired TOF remain to be determined.