Ventricular late potentials and spontaneous XXXX after surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot: do they have prognostic value?

@entity1 @entity943 @entity1165 @entity944
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prognostic significance of ventricular late potentials and spontaneous @entity943 detected early after surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot. DESIGN: Prospective observational. SETTING: Cardiology department of a teaching hospital. METHODS: Between June 1984 and June 1991, 104 @entity1 (63 @entity1 , 41 @entity1 ) were studied by signal averaging and 24 hour ambulatory monitoring after surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot. Mean (SD) age at operation was 6 (3) years, mean interval between operation and evaluation was 8 (25) months, and the follow up after evaluation was one to 88 (mean 30) months. RESULTS: Ventricular late potentials were detected in 24/104 @entity1 (23%) and spontaneous @entity943 in 39/96 @entity1 (38%); usually (in 81%) these were unifocal and rare. @entity1 with ventricular late potentials were older at operation than @entity1 without late potentials (9 (3) v 6 (3) years, P = 0.002). No correlation was found between the presence of ventricular late potentials and the presence or complexity of spontaneous @entity943 early after operation. During the mean follow up of 2.5 years no case of @entity944 or sustained @entity1165 was found. CONCLUSION: Short-term prognosis after surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot is good; ventricular late potentials and spontaneous @entity943 are often detected shortly after operation, but in the medium term follow up they do not predict @entity944 or serious @entity943 .
