Pulmonary venous Doppler patterns and midterm outcomes in fetuses with left-sided obstructive lesions and restrictive atrial septum.

OBJECTIVE

To compare length of stay of the initial neonatal hospitalization and mortality across multiple stages of surgical palliation for infants with left-sided obstructive lesions and severely restrictive or intact atrial septum (I/RAS).

METHODS

Retrospective cohort study of patients prenatally diagnosed with left-sided obstructive lesions and I/RAS, defined by fetal pulmonary venous Dopplers.

RESULTS

We identified 76 fetal patients with 59 live born intending to pursue intervention. Those with I/RAS had longer durations of mechanical ventilation (P = .031) but no difference in intensive care unit or total length of stay. Survival to discharge from neonatal hospitalization was 41.7% in the I/RAS group and 80.7% in the unrestrictive group (P = .001). There was a higher proportion of deaths between stage 1 and stage 2 in the I/RAS group - 5/9 (55.6%) vs 9/50 (18%) in the unrestrictive group (P = .027). Beyond stage 2 palliation there was trend toward a difference in overall mortality (66.7% in I/RAS vs 35.7% in unrestrictive, P = .05) but no statistically significant difference in transplant-free survival (33.3% in I/RAS vs 53.5% in unrestrictive, P = .11).

CONCLUSION

The survival disadvantage conferred by prenatally diagnosed severe atrial septal restriction is most pronounced in the neonatal and early infancy period, with no detectable difference in late midterm transplant-free survival in our cohort.