Assessment of cardiovascular malformation in patients with complex congenital heart disease with diminished pulmonary blood flow by dual source computed tomography

This study aimed to investigate the clinical value of DSCT in the preoperational assessment of the cardiovascular malformation in patients with the complex congenital heart disease of diminished pulmonary blood flow in China. 130 patients' scheduled for operation because of suspected or definited complex congenital heart disease with diminished pulmonary blood flow were examined by DSCT and echo cardiography. The intra-cardiac and extra-cardiac cardiovascular malformation were observed according to the Van Praagh Segment analytical method. There were 493 places of malformation for all the 130 patients, of which 205 intra-cardiac malformation and 288 extra-cardiac malformation. (1)189 of 205 intra-cardiac malformation were diagnosed by DSCT, the diagnostic accuracy was 92.2%, and the echocardiography' was 95.61% (196/205), there was no significant difference between them (χ2=2.087, P>0.05). (2) Of the 288 places of extra-cardiac malformation, 276 places were directly diagnosed by DSCT and the diagnostic accuracy was 95.83% (276/288), and the echocardiography' was 82.99% (239/288), there was significant difference (χ2=25.101, P<0.01). (3)For all the 493 places of cardiovascular malformation, the diagnostic accuracy of DSCT and echocardiography were 92.90%, 88.24%, respectively, there was significant difference (P<0.05). Compared with echocardiography, DSCT is superior in quantitative assessment of the extra-cardiac malformation but reverse for the intra-cardiac malformation, DSCT combine with echocardiography could positively improve the diagnostic accuracy of complex congenital heart disease with diminished pulmonary blood flow.