Open Access

ARTICLE

Screening Coarctation of Aorta with Clinical and Echocardiographic Profiles in Infants: A Pilot Study

by Ruikun Zou¹, Yifei Wang^1,*, Chengcheng Pang², Yunxia Sun¹, Chen Chen¹, Jian Zhuang³

1 Department of Neonatology, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China
2 Department of Maternal-Fetal Cardiology, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Structural Heart Disease, Guangzhou, China
3 Department of Cardiac Surgery, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of South China, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China

* Corresponding Author: Yifei Wang. Email:

Congenital Heart Disease 2021, 16(2), 159-170. https://doi.org/10.32604/CHD.2021.015050

Received 18 November 2020; Accepted 09 December 2020; Issue published 26 January 2021

Abstract

Aim: To determine the profiles of clinical features including four-limb blood pressure (BP), saturations of peripheral oxygen (SpO₂), and echocardiographic features in infants with coarctation of aorta (CoA) to facilitate congenital heart diseases screening. Methods: The charts of infants with CoA were retrospectively reviewed. All in-hospital infants suspected of congenital heart diseases by clinical teams were prospectively measured of four limbs BPs and SpO₂ in a regional cardiac transferring center during 2013 and 2019. Echocardiography as a gold standard test was followed within 2 days after suspicion. All infants were divided into non-significant CoA group or significant CoA group based on the difference of BPs between right arm and lower limbs. Predictors of non-significant CoA were determined with multivariable logistic regression. Results: One hundred thirty-three infants with CoA were identified. The BPs on upper limbs were higher than those on lower limbs (P = 0.001). No statistical difference in SpO₂ was found between four limbs. Fifty-three (39.8%) infants presented with significant CoA. Thirty-four infants presented with low SpO₂ and 26 of 34 presented with non-significant CoA. Small ascending aorta diameter [0.070 (95% CI: 0.005–0.136), P = 0.036] was an independent risk factors for non-significant CoA. Eighteen (13.5%) infants with CoA didn’t present with any of the BP difference, low SpO₂, murmur, or weak femoral pulse. Conclusion: Less than half of the infants with CoA presented with a significant BP difference. Another one fifth presented with low SpO₂. Small ascending aorta diameter was an independent factor for non-significant CoA.

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