Usefulness of Red Blood Cell Distribution Width in the Assessment of Hemodynamics After Tetralogy of Fallot Repair

Abstract

Background: There are no reports on the effect of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) in surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot (ToF).

Methods and Results: A total of 50 patients who underwent cardiac catheterization after surgical repair of ToF were retrospectively assessed. RDW was positively correlated with the ratio of right ventricular pressure to left ventricular pressure (RVP/LVP; P<0.0001, r²=0.57). Patients with elevated RDW had a higher RVP/LVP than those with a normal RDW (P<0.0001). Also, elevated RDW was related to elevated central venous pressure (P<0.0001), decreased mixed venous oxygen saturation (P<0.0001), greater pulmonary stenosis (P=0.003) and severe pulmonary regurgitation on echocardiography (P<0.0001), a higher rate of residual ventricular septal defect leak (P=0.004) and higher reoperation rate (P=0.009). Of the 7 patients who underwent reoperation, 6 had decrease in RDW after reoperation (P=0.012). On multivariable regression analysis, RDW was the strongest indicator of higher RVP/LVP.

Conclusions: For the first time, RDW has been shown to be a strong indicator for assessing the hemodynamics and risk of later reoperation after surgical repair of ToF.