Gamut of congenital heart diseases in a tertiary center in South India: an ode to echocardiography

Abstract

Background: Echocardiography has supplanted clinical acumen in diagnosis of congenital heart diseases (CHDs). Prevalence rates of CHDs across various regions of the world are subject to change over the course of time, with increasing use of this diagnostic modality. Objective: To assess the prevalence and types of CHDs.Methods: The study was conducted at a tertiary care center in South Karnataka, India. Transthoracic echocardiographic records of all patients suspected to have congenital heart disease, over a period of 60 months were analyzed. Categorization of data into acyanotic and cyanotic congenital heart disease, and further, into different types was done after an exhaustive search. Specific variables such as age, frequency and gender distribution of all kinds of CHDs were computed.Results: Of a total 112,372 pediatric patients who attended our center, 1451 reports of subjects suspected to have CHDs were analyzed. The prevalence was found to be 6.22 per 1000 subjects. Of the 700 subjects (48.24%) with CHD, 664 (94.85%) were diagnosed to have Acyanotic Congenital Heart Disease and 36 (5.14%) were diagnosed to have Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease. Among the Acyanotic CHD, Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) was found to be the most common (40.21%) seconded by Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) (21.53%). Among the 36 subjects diagnosed to have Cyanotic CHD, it was found that Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) was the most commonest lesion (61.11%).Conclusions: Increased utilization of Echocardiography as a diagnostic modality significantly helps to better appreciate ever varying prevalence rates and types of CHDs in different parts of India. Frequent longitudinal studies in this regard help in enhanced allocation of available resources and updating of available databases.