What to look for after radical surgery for tetralogy of Fallot

  Tetralogy of Fallot is the most common complex preconditioning disease, and it is also the most mature and effective complex preconditioning disease to be treated surgically. Currently, there are about 500 radical surgery cases of Tetralogy of Fallot in our hospital every year, and the surgical mortality rate is less than 1%. However, due to the disease, the surgery requires reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract structure, resulting in varying degrees of postoperative pulmonary valve regurgitation. The pulmonary valve is like a door, and when the door is small and the door frame is large, it inevitably results in the door not closing tightly, creating a result similar to regurgitation. As the child grows older and more active, pulmonary regurgitation increases and the right ventricle enlarges. Right ventricular enlargement is like blowing up a balloon, which keeps getting bigger and bigger and can be retracted in a certain range, but to a certain extent it cannot be retracted to its original size or even ruptured and cannot be repaired. Therefore, the early stage of right ventricular enlargement is the compensatory stage, which usually does not show obvious symptoms, while after the compensatory stage, it turns into the decompensatory stage, and gradually arrhythmias, heart failure, and decreased activity tolerance appear. Once the compensated period is over, even intervention is very costly, bringing pain to the child, economic burden to the family, and even irreversible end such as death.  A foreign study on the average follow-up of patients for 20 years after surgery showed that their long-term survival rate is about 90%, suggesting that there is still a high rate of death in the long term after surgery for tetralogy of Fallot, so parents cannot rest on their laurels after surgery. Currently, patients routinely come for follow-up at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after surgery, but after that they are reluctant to continue follow-up because the patients are in good condition, ignoring potential complications. Moreover, in view of the national situation in China, many patients do not have regular follow-ups due to various reasons such as economy and transportation, resulting in poor surgical results or even sudden death due to the problems of the child not being detected and treated in time. Patients need parents and themselves to pay attention to the issue of regular follow-up after surgery and timely review such as electrocardiogram and cardiac ultrasound. Through this series of examinations, we can detect potential problems of patients early and avoid complications, although there may be no obvious symptoms and discomfort.  Can radical treatment of tetralogy of Fallot be done once and for all?  Tetralogy of Fallot is the most common complex congenital heart disease. With the advancement of surgical techniques, there are already many patients after radical surgery, some of whom gradually develop massive regurgitation in the pulmonary valve, which in turn leads to decreased cardiac function, etc., manifested by easy fatigue, decreased mobility, and arrhythmias. However, many patients and their families do not pay attention to regular review of the heart. However, if they miss the best time for treatment, they face irretrievable health. Therefore, in response to this situation, experts at Fu Wai Hospital urge patients after radical surgery for tetralogy of Fallot to undergo regular review, including cardiac ultrasound, electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, etc.