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.