Cardiac computed tomography angiography in the pre-operative assessment of congenital heart disease in Thailand

INTRODUCTION: Cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) plays a vital role in clinical practice in evaluating patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) when the information from echocardiography is equivocal. AIM: To test the hypothesis that CCTA has significantly value for pre-operative evaluation of congenital heart disease and practicality in the diagnosis and management of congenital heart disease patients at our tertiary care academic hospital. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied a total of 78 congenital heart disease patients (median age: 4.5 years) who had undergone CCTA during the period January 2017 to October 2018 at our tertiary care academic hospital. RESULTS: The results were classified as diagnostic categories, and the impact of the procedure on strategizing management was analysed. In each group, the CCTA offered an advantage and provided specific clues for surgical or interventional management. In total, the sensitivity (97.5%), specificity (100%), positive predictive value (100%), negative predictive value (99.38%), and accuracy (99.5%) of CCTA, for which the significant findings were confirmed by surgical or cardiac catheterization, were excellent, with average exposure per CCTA study calculated at 1.41 (0.36–3.28) mSv. CONCLUSIONS: CCTA is an excellent non-invasive modality for the evaluation of congenital heart disease patients, with an important diagnostic and decision-aiding role.