Assessment of Ventricular Function in Tetralogy of Fallot Patients Using Tissue Doppler

Background: Echocardiographic findings of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) are diagnostic in infants and young children, and echocardiography may be the only examination required prior to surgery. Global left ventricular function determined by conventional Doppler may be normal in these patients; but regional myocardial function assessment by tissue Doppler if abnormal in these patients may affect outcome later on. Aim of the Work: to evaluate ventricular functions in Fallot's tetralogy using conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography (DTI). Patients and Methods: Thirty patients with TOF were included. They included 19 (63.3 %) males and 11 (36.7 %) females, age 37.8 ± 19.31 months. Twenty age-matched healthy subjects (36.3 ± 14.88 months) were included as a control group. Conventional and Doppler tissue Imaging (DTI) were used in the evaluation of both groups. Results: Analysis of the obtained results showed significantly lower ME, ME/A, TE, TE/A and TS but higher TA in TOF group than in healthy controls by DTI. In addition, there was direct correlation between age and ME/A in TOF patients. Comparison of conventional Doppler parameters in the studied groups shows significantly lower ME, ME/A and TE/A but higher TA in TOF patients than controls. Correlation among Doppler Tissue Imaging and conventional Doppler parameters in the TOF cases showed direct correlation between DTI TA and both Doppler TE and TA. In addition, there was inverse correlation between DTI TE/A and Doppler TE and TA. Conclusions: DTI is a reliable utility in the diagnosis of ventricular function in TOF cases with many advantages over conventional echocardiography.