Cardiac catheterization in low birth weight infants

The increased survival of low birth weight infants means that more of these infants may be candidates for cardiac catheterization. There is a lack of data from Taiwan on the results of cardiac catheterization in these infants. This study investigated the outcome of cardiac catheterization in infants weighing less than 2500 g in a single hospital over an 11-year period.

The records of 41 infants (17 males and 24 females) weighing less than 2500 g at the time of cardiac catheterization from August 1993 to July 2004 were reviewed. Morbidity and mortality were compared between diagnostic and intervention groups.

Interventional procedures were performed in 14 and diagnostic catheterizations in 27 infants. These interventional procedures included 5 balloon valvuloplasties for pulmonary stenosis and 1 for aortic stenosis, 1 balloon angioplasty for critical coarctation, 1 aortic valvuloplasty, 1 dilatation for coarctation plus aortic valvuloplasty, 1 temporary pacemaker implantation, and 5 balloon atrioseptostomies. The median age at catheterization was 5 days and the median weight was 2.35 kg. All diagnostic and interventional procedures were successfully performed without mortality. Complications included 2 cases each of arrhythmia, bleeding, apnea, and thromboembolism in the diagnostic group and, in the intervention group, 2 cases each of supraventricular tachycardia and bleeding, and 1 case of linear dissection of a coarctation.

None of the 41 catheterized low birth weight infants died. Furthermore, the complication rate in the intervention group was no higher than in the diagnostic group. We conclude that cardiac catheterization, even with an interventional procedure, can be performed safely in low birth weight infants.