SIR Medicine Investigation Abstract
CHRONOTROPIC INCOMPETENCE IN SINGLE VENTRICLE PATIENTS
Presenter:
Mi (Amy) Chen, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Advisor:
Dr. Barbara Deal, Children's Memorial Hospital
Abstract:
In the U.S, there are about 800,000-1 million adults with surgically repaired congenital heart disease; many of these survivors are developing life-threatening arrhythmias and necessitating further interventions. It is not clear why these patients have so many problems with arrhythmias. We attempted to analyze whether the abnormal heart rates are related to the inborn abnormality of heart structure, or the surgery that corrected the structural problem.
Heart rates were recorded on continuous 24 hr recordings (Holter monitors) of 46 patients (29 males) before corrective surgery, mean age 3.0 years, and compared to the age-matched Holters of 46 patients (23 males) with structurally normal hearts (mean ages 3.1 years). The Normal children had mean heart rates of 104.26, max of 175.63, and min of 61.70 bpm, which were not significantly different than the results of patients with single ventricles (respectively, 100.28, 169.76, 62.15 bpm). These results show that the heart rates were similar between both groups, suggesting that the heart rate changes and the arrhythmias are due to the corrective operation rather than the inborn structural problem. This new research may help modify the corrective surgery with attempts to normalize the patients' heart rates, potentially reducing the cost and obligations for future operations and improving the quality of life for patients with operated congenital heart disease.