Aerobic capacity in adults with tetralogy of Fallot

• Published in: Cardiology in the young Vol. 12; no. 6; pp. 554 - 559
• Main Authors: Fredriksen, Per Morten, Therrien, Judith, Veldtman, Gruschen, Warsi, Mohammed Ali, Liu, Peter, Thaulow, Erik, Webb, Gary
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.12.2002
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Cardiac Surgical Procedures; cardiopulmonary test; Congenital heart disease; Exercise - physiology; Exercise Tolerance - physiology; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Forced Expiratory Volume - physiology; Heart Function Tests; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; North America; Original Article; Oxygen Consumption - physiology; Predictive Value of Tests; Pulmonary Valve Insufficiency - physiopathology; Pulmonary Valve Insufficiency - surgery; Respiratory Function Tests; Retrospective Studies; Severity of Illness Index; spirometry; Statistics as Topic; Tetralogy of Fallot - physiopathology; Tetralogy of Fallot - surgery; Treatment Outcome; Vital Capacity - physiology; North America; cardiopulmonary test; Congenital heart disease; spirometry
• ISSN: 1047-9511; 1467-1107
• DOI: 10.1017/S1047951102001002

Background: We investigated the aerobic capacity of 168 adult patients who had undergone successful surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot at the University of Toronto Congenital Cardiac Centre for Adults. Methods: We compared values of peak uptake of oxygen, peak heart rate, forced vital capacity, and forced expiratory volume in 1 second to predicted values for their age groups. Results: The patients who had undergone surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot demonstrated an overall diminished peak uptake of oxygen, at 51%, and peak heart rate, at 79%, compared to predicted values. No difference in peak aerobic capacity was found according to the initial surgical strategy of palliation or repair. Conclusions: Adult patients who have undergone surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot have lower peak uptake of oxygen, and peak heart rate, compared to predicted values. The reduction in the peak heart rate may affect their exercise capacity. The peak uptake of oxygen also decreased with increasing age at the time of testing, and the age at surgical repair.