Age of surgery related to postoperative catch-up growth and development in children with acyanotic heart disease

Introduction: Acyanotic congenital heart disease such as ventricular septal defect (VSD), arterial septal defect (ASD), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) are the most common case of congenital heart disease (CHD). There were poor findings on growth and development in children with acyanotic CHD. Some studies showed that the patients found experienced short stature and malnutrition, which can alter the quality of life and the generation of the country. Definitive treatment for acyanotic CHD is surgery. However, several cases proved that only with the right timing of surgical intervention, the optimal growth of children with acyanotic CHD can be achieved. Several studies reveal that insulinlike growth factor 1 (IGF-1) become the key to growth spurt after surgery in early life. Therefore, in this article, author focused on the issue of intervention timing related to growth and development of acyanotic CHD patients. This review is expected to promote future research in order to improve the outcome and quality of life of children with acyanotic CHD. Evidence Acquisition: Literature reviewed in our study was gathered from PubMed, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Clinical Key. We also reviewed the articles cited within the literature to broaden the search results. Evidence Synthesis: The data were extracted from 28 articles. Out of 28 articles gathered in this review, 13 articles are systematic review, and 15 articles were observational studies. Conclusions: Acyanotic congenital heart diseases are associated with decline in growth and development, related to poor perfusion to the organ related. Surgery is the most effective intervention as significant improvement occur afterward.