Assessment of right ventricular function by isovolumic acceleration of pulmonary and tricuspid annulus in surgically repaired tetralogy of Fallot

Assessment of right ventricular (RV) function is quite important in patients with surgically corrected tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). However, quantitative assessment of RV function remains challenging, mainly because of the complex RV geometry. This prospective study investigated isovolumic acceleration (IVA), a parameter of myocardial systolic function not influenced by either preload or afterload, using tissue Doppler imaging. We evaluated IVA measured on pulmonary annulus (PA-IVA) and tricuspid annulus (TA-IVA), because we considered that PA-IVA and TA-IVA correspond with systolic function of the RV outflow tract (RVOT) and RV basal function, respectively. Thirty-nine patients with surgically repaired TOF (TOF group) and 40 age-matched healthy children (control group) were enrolled in this study. No significant difference was seen between TA-IVA (2.5 +/- 0.8 m/s(2)) and PA-IVA (2.4 +/- 0.8 m/s(2)) in the control group. In the TOF group, PA-IVA (1.0 +/- 0.5 m/s(2)) was significantly lower than TA-IVA (1.3 +/- 0.6 m/s(2), p < 0.05). Both TA-IVA and PA-IVA were significantly lower in the TOF group than in the control group (p < 0.05 each). We concluded that PA-IVA offers a useful index to assess RVOT function in TOF patients.