Fetal echo predictors of emergency BAS in patients with TGA
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Fetal echocardiographic predictors of the requirement for a Rashkind procedure in patients diagnosed antenatally with Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA).
IRAS ID
319269
Contact name
Josephine Ryan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 9 days
Research summary
A small percentage of the population will be born with a heart defect. One of these defects is called Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA).
In a normal heart, blood with low oxygen returns from the body to the right side of the heart. Blood is then pumped via the lung artery (pulmonary artery) to the lungs to become oxygenated. This oxygen-rich blood returns to the left side of the heart and is pumped to the rest of the body via the main body artery(aorta). All tissues and organs in the body require oxygen-rich blood to function.
In TGA there are two separate circulations, the aorta and the pulmonary artery are switched over into the wrong position. So, the right heart pumps blood with low oxygen into the aorta, and therefore the rest of the body. Whilst the left heart pumps its oxygen rich blood straight back to the lungs. This means that no oxygen-rich blood is sent out around the body.
Without a hole between two of the chambers in the heart after birth, the baby becomes extremely unwell. An emergency procedure is required which creates a small hole between the top two chambers, this allows for mixing of blood which stabilises the baby until they are able to have surgery to swap the arteries back.
My project aims to see if we can predict, prior to birth, which babies with TGA will need this life-saving procedure. To do this I will be looking at certain measurements performed on a heart scan (fetal echocardiogram) before the baby is born, during the 36th week of pregnancy. If we can predict the requirement for this procedure, it has the potential of preventing the baby becoming extremely unwell and even dying in the first day of life.REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
22/WA/0337
Date of REC Opinion
1 Dec 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion