Pre-anesthetic echocardiographic findings in children undergoing non-cardiac surgery at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: A pre-anaesthestic echocardiogram (echo) is requested for most non-cardiac surgeries to identify possible cardiac structural anomalies.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence and spectrum of structural cardiac abnormalities seen in various non-cardiac conditions.

METHODS: We carried out a retrospective review of pre-anaesthetic echos performed over five years on children scheduled for non-cardiac surgery. The requests were categorised according to referring specialities, and the biodata and echo findings were noted.

RESULTS: A total of 181 children and 181 echocardiograms were studied, and 100 (55.2%) of the patients were male. Most of the children (87, 48.1%) with oro-facial clefts were referred from dentistry. Of the 181 children, 39 (21.5%) had cardiac abnormalities, most (34, 87.2%) of whom had congenital heart disease (CHD). Ophthalmic requests with suspected congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) had the highest prevalence of 8/12 (66.7%) while the lowest was oro-facial clefts at 15/87 (17.2%). Atrial septal defect was the commonest abnormality, found in 14 patients (35.9%).

CONCLUSION: Pre-anaesthetic echo should be performed, especially for children with suspected CRS and other congenital anomalies, requiring non-cardiac surgery.