Medical imaging plays a significant role in imaging patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), according to new guidelines.
Experts from the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE), in collaboration with the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) and the Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR), released the guidelines to help optimize lifetime management of patients with the childhood heart defect. The document is titled "Multimodality Imaging Guidelines for Patients With Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot: A Report from the American Society of Echocardiography Writing Group."
Diagnostic imaging, including echocardiography and cardiovascular MR, plays a key role in identifying abnormalities and assessing their severity to help cardiologists make clinical decisions about how to manage these issues, according to the group.
More than 1,300 babies are born with this defect each year in the U.S. "Advances in the diagnosis and management of congenital heart disease have led to a marked improvement in survival of these patients since it was first surgically repaired in 1954. However, residual anatomic and hemodynamic abnormalities are nearly universal in patients with repaired TOF, necessitating a lifetime of follow-up cardiac care," noted Dr. Anne Marie Valente, co-chair of the writing group, in a statement.
The guidelines address the lifelong surveillance of patients with repaired TOF, using a comprehensive multimodality approach without making specific recommendations for therapy. The aims of the document are to describe the role of each diagnostic modality in the care of patients with repaired TOF, and to provide guidelines for a multimodality approach that takes into account various patient- and modality-related considerations.
In conjunction with the guideline document, the lead authors will conduct a live webinar in April 2014, including a question-and-answer section that will be available for free to all ASE members and open to all other clinicians for a fee of $25. The webinar will be archived on ASEUniversity.org.
The full guideline document is available on the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography website and will be published in the February 2014 print issue.
