Patients:
This prospective controlled study took place starting from May 2017 to
December 2019. The study was approved by the institutional human
research ethics committee, and the study protocol obeys to the ethical
guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki, and its ethical
standards. Informed consent was obtained from the patient guardian. The
study enrolled two groups; group I thirty-one children with complete TGA
(D-TGA) who had undergone atrial redirection by the Senning procedure,
who are < 14 years age, and who had been clinically stable for
at least 3 months, and group II, thirty age- and weight-matched control
children.
All the studied children were subjected to clinical evaluation
including; the presenting symptoms, the oxygen saturation, the heart
rate, the blood pressure, the N-terminal (NT)-pro hormone BNP
(NT-proBNP), the electrocardiography and the echocardiographic Doppler
assessment of systemic RV systolic function using standard ultrasound
parameters and 2D speckle tracking strain curves at rest and high dose
dobutamine stress echocardiography.