1Department of Pediatric, Haematology & Oncology, Medical University of Gdańsk 2Department of Radiology, Medical University of Gdańsk 3Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Medical University of Gdańsk
Objective: Non-interventional and interventional pediatric cardiac catheterization (PCC), so important in diagnosis and treatment of patients with congenital heart disease, have a number of side effects. One of the possible life-threatening side effects is pulmonary embolism (PE). The mortality rate of PE in patients with cardiac disease is higher than in patients without cardiac disease. This is why early diagnosis of PE, especially in children with congenital heart disease, is so important. Recently new opportunity in diagnosis of PE has been established. It has been proven that chest ultrasound examination is successful in detecting subpleural thromboembolic lesions as well as diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Aim of study: The purpose of this report is to presentour experiences with thoracic ultrasound examination in children after cardiac catheterization. Material and Methods: 60 children in age between 14 days and 18 years (28 female, 32 male) were enrolledto the study. Ultrasound examinations were performed in children scheduled on cardiac catheterization (17 – diagnostic and 43 – therapeutic procedures). Every patient had chest ultrasound examinationperformed twice: first time - prior to cardiac catheterization - to rule out pre-existing lesions and second time – one day after procedure. All patients were examined with using real-time, Color Doppler and Power Doppler sonography with the Logiq 500 GE Medical Systems. Both multifrequency 3,5 – 5,0 MHz convex and 7,5 – 11,0 linear array transducers were used. All examinations were recorded on video-type and subsequently reviewed by two sonographers. Results: In all the cases we did not notice any subpleural lesions in both examinations – before and after catheterization. None of the patients in our study developed clinical signs of PE after catheterization. Conclusions: Based on our preliminary data we stated that non-interventional and interventional pediatric cardiac catheterization is a safe procedure in a pulmonary viewpoint.
