Abstract 16887: Impact of Variability in Echocardiographic Interpretation on Assessment of Repair Following Congenital Heart Surgery

Background: Technical Performance Score (TPS), a tool based largely on the presence and magnitude of residua on postoperative echocardiograms (echo), has been used for assessing surgical repair and correlates with outcomes. The reproducibility of the echo measures that drive TPS classification has not been tested. We evaluated reader variability for echo components of TPS for tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) repair and arterial switch operation (ASO) in 2 centers and measured its effect on TPS. Hypothesis: Inter-reader echo measurement variability will not substantially impact TPS classification. Methods: Postoperative echos were evaluated in 67 subjects (39 TOF and 28 ASO). Two readers (1 per center) read each echo, blinded to center of origin. To assess intra-reader variability, 25% of echoes were re-reviewed by each reader. Measurements between readers were compared with Intra-class correlation (ICC). TPS Class (1 Optimal no residua, 2 Adequate minor residua, 3 Inadequate major residua) was assigned for each ...