AUDITORY AND VERBAL MEMORY DISORDER IN YOUNG SCHOOLCHILDREN WITH CONGENITAL HEART DEFECTS

Abstract

Highlights The presented literature review points to new questions associated with cognitive impairment in patients with congenital heart defects. We propose that cognitive and behavioral impairments in patients with CHD are common, but their development trajectory and degree of severity depend on the CHD subtype. Aim. To study the features of auditory and verbal memory in young schoolchildren who underwent cardiac surgery.Methods. The study included 104 children from 7 to 10 years old, who underwent on-pump cardiac surgery for congenital heart defects at the Research Institute for Complex Issues of Cardiovascular Diseases in the period from 2019 to 2022. We analyzed anamnesis data, clinical and hemodynamic picture, the risk of mortality from surgery according to the RACHS scale, and assessed the auditory and verbal memory according using methodical manual by T.A. Fotekova and T.V. Akhutina (block 1 series 3, block 2 series 1) during 1-year follow up.Results. All children had presented with stage I chronic heart failure (functional class II) at the time of hospitalization. The outcome of surgery was mostly positive a year after the surgery: children had no heart failure symptoms or hemodynamic disorders, however, 80% of children had auditory and verbal memory impairments.Conclusion. In addition to standard methods of examining children with congenital heart disease, it is necessary to introduce a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach that would include the assessment of neurocognitive status before and after surgery.