Multidetector computed tomography for patients with congenital heart disease: a multi-center registry from Africa and Middle East; patients’ characteristics and procedural safety

BACKGROUND: We aimed to establish a clinical registry for patients with congenital heart disease who referred to multidetector computed tomography in our country, to describe the pattern and clinical profile of such patients and document the safety and efficacy of the procedure in our daily practice. RESULTS: A total 2310 studies were analyzed after excluding studies with missed, and lost data. Half of our study population—1215 patients—52.5% were males. The median age of the patients was 12 months (IQR 37 months), and the youngest patient was 3 days old. The eldest patient was 50 years old. 68.27% of the patients were less than 2 years old, and two-third of the whole studied population 66.7% had cyanotic heart disease. Minor local access complications, complications related to anesthetic drugs, and allergic reactions were the most commonly encountered complications, with only single mortality mainly due to multiple associated multisystem congenital malformation. CONCLUSIONS: Most of our patients with congenital heart disease referred for MDCT study were infants and young children. The majority of them had complex cyanotic heart disease. The study is safe, with excellent diagnostic yield and safe with very low incidence of complications.