Developmental outcome after surgical versus interventional closure of secundum atrial septal defect in children
K J Visconti1, D P Bichell, R A Jonas
1Department of Cardiac Surgery, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Insights
Children undergoing surgical heart repair showed lower IQ scores compared to those treated with device closure. Further research is needed to confirm if cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) impacts neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Cardiology
- Neurodevelopmental Outcomes
- Congenital Heart Disease
Background:
- Assessing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) impact on child development post-heart surgery is challenging due to lack of comparison groups.
- Interventional catheterization offers a non-CPB alternative for repairing certain congenital heart defects.
- This study utilizes device closure as a comparison to surgical repair to evaluate CPB effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with secundum atrial septal defects repaired via surgery versus transcatheter device closure.
- To investigate potential differences in cognitive function and achievement between the two treatment groups.
- To explore the impact of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on developmental trajectories.
Main Methods:
- Standardized neuropsychological testing was performed on children post-defect closure.
- Two groups were studied: surgical repair (n=26) and transcatheter device closure (n=19).
- Regression analyses adjusted for age at testing and parental IQ were used to compare outcomes.
Main Results:
- Surgical repair was associated with a significant deficit in Full-Scale IQ (-9.5 points) and Performance IQ (-9.7 points) compared to device closure.
- The Block Design subtest showed the most significant difference between groups.
- While most scores were in the normal range, surgical patients performed better on specific attention tests.
Conclusions:
- Device closure may be associated with better neuropsychological outcomes than surgical repair for secundum atrial septal defects.
- Further investigation, including prospective randomized trials, is needed to confirm these findings.
- The study highlights the need to differentiate between CPB effects and methodological artifacts in developmental assessments.
Background:
The assessment of the impact of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on developmental outcomes in children who undergo open heart surgery is hampered by the absence of a suitable comparison group. The development of interventional catheterization techniques for the repair of certain types of congenital heart lesions provides the opportunity to study children who have not been exposed to CPB.
Methods And Results:
We performed standardized neuropsychological testing on children after closure of a secundum atrial septal defect through the use of surgery (n=26) or a transcatheter device (n=19). Device patients, compared with surgical patients, were similar in age at defect closure (mean, 6 years) but older at follow-up testing (12.3 versus 10.6 years). The mean weight percentile at closure was greater and the defect size was smaller in the device patients. Families of device patients tended to have a higher parent IQ, higher level of maternal education, and higher level of maternal occupation. In general, however, children's IQ and achievement scores were in the normal range for both groups. In regression analyses with adjustment for age at testing and parent IQ, surgical repair was associated with a 9.5-point deficit in Full-Scale IQ (P=0. 03) and a 9.7-point deficit in Performance IQ (P=0.05). Block Design was the IQ subtest on which treatment groups differed the most (P=0. 01). Surgical patients achieved significantly better scores on errors of commission (P=0.05) and attentiveness index (P=0.03) on a continuous performance test of attention. Scores on tests of achievement and other neuropsychological domains did not differ significantly between the groups. Regression analyses within the surgical group failed to identify significant CPB-related risk factors.
Conclusions:
A prospective randomized trial or a study that includes prerepair and postrepair assessments is necessary to establish whether the observed advantages of device closure in neuropsychological outcome represent deleterious effects of CPB or a methodological artifact.
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