Risk stratification in transposition of the great arteries
On 2 november 2021 Odilia Woudstra succesfully defendend her thesis:" Risk stratification in transposition of the great arteries" .This thesis focuses on several factors to predict complications in adults with transposition of the great vessels who have undergone atrial switch surgery in childhood. In adulthood, these people have a high risk of complications as a result of heart surgery, such as heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and death (at a relatively young age). In this thesis, we present the first risk model that estimates the absolute risk for patients for these major complications. We then show that new markers, from echocardiography and from genetic research, can still improve the risk assessment compared to only (simple) factors that are currently used. We also study the medication use of adults with a congenital heart defect. We see that many patients use multiple drugs for their heart disease, despite the fact that the effect of these drugs is not well known in this patient group. Finally, we study the genetic background of transposition of the great vessels. We find leads that common genetic variants may influence the development of transposition of the great vessels and the course with an increased or decreased risk of complications in adulthood.
The digital version of the thesis can be found online: risk stratification in transposition of the great arteries by Odilia Woudstra.