Heart Failure Risk Predictions and Prognostic Factors in Adults With Congenital Heart Diseases

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Research

Background:

• The population of adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) is growing, presenting unique clinical challenges.
• Existing assessment scales like the NYHA classification have limited applicability in this population.
• There's a critical need for accessible, cost-effective parameters to track ACHD patient condition changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify readily available, inexpensive, and user-friendly factors for assessing the condition of adults with congenital heart disease.
• To review current research on potential prognostic factors for ACHD patients.

Main Methods:

• Review of studies investigating various assessment modalities for ACHD patients.
• Analysis of echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging findings (anatomy, function, strain, lesions, etc.).
• Evaluation of cardiopulmonary exercise testing parameters (peak oxygen uptake, efficiency, chronotropy, saturation) and biomarkers (NT-proBNP, GDF-15, hsTnT, RDW, etc.).

Main Results:

• Numerous potential prognostic factors are emerging from imaging, exercise testing, and biomarker analysis.
• These factors include ventricular function, longitudinal strain, shunt lesions, valvular defects, pulmonary hypertension, peak oxygen uptake, ventilatory efficiency, and various biomarkers.
• While promising, these factors require further investigation for specific ACHD conditions.

Conclusions:

• Current assessment tools are insufficient for the growing ACHD population.
• A range of imaging, exercise, and biomarker parameters show potential for monitoring ACHD patient status.
• Further research is necessary to develop a specific panel for assessing patients with diverse congenital heart diseases.