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Clinical practice variability among paediatric interventional cardiologists assessing pulmonary arteriovenous malformations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2025

Joshua Fields
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin Herma Heart Institute, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Jared Boon
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Quantitative Health Sciences, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Osama Aldoss
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin Herma Heart Institute, Milwaukee, WI, USA Cardiovascular Research Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Susan R. Foerster
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin Herma Heart Institute, Milwaukee, WI, USA Cardiovascular Research Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Todd M. Gudausky
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin Herma Heart Institute, Milwaukee, WI, USA Cardiovascular Research Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Stephen B. Spurgin
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
Andrew D. Spearman*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin Herma Heart Institute, Milwaukee, WI, USA Cardiovascular Research Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
*
Corresponding author: Andrew D. Spearman; Email: aspearman@mcw.edu
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Abstract

Background:

Single ventricle pulmonary arteriovenous malformations are poorly understood and variably assessed in published literature. To improve our understanding of single ventricle pulmonary arteriovenous malformations and facilitate multi-centre studies, it will be necessary to have uniform clinical practice patterns among paediatric heart institutions.

Objectives:

The aim of this study was to assess paediatric interventional cardiologists’ clinical perspectives and practice patterns for diagnosing single ventricle pulmonary arteriovenous malformations.

Methods:

We surveyed paediatric interventional cardiologists using the Congenital Cardiovascular Interventional Consortium listserv. A single survey was distributed electronically with two subsequent reminder emails. Voluntary participants completed the anonymous survey electronically via RedCap.

Results:

Among 253 Congenital Cardiovascular Interventional Consortium members, a total of 55 (21.7%) paediatric cardiology interventional attending physicians completed the survey. There was near unanimity (98%) that pulmonary arteriovenous malformations develop due to lack of hepatic vein blood flow to the lungs; however, there was wide variation among practice patterns. A minority (20%) of respondents perform bubble contrast echocardiograms (bubble studies) more than half the time pre-Fontan, whereas many (31%) almost never (< 5% of cases) perform bubble studies pre-Fontan. Most respondents reported that they did not perform bubble studies because results do not impact clinical decision making pre-Fontan (56%) or post-Fontan (60%). Many respondents (49%) do not have a typical volume of agitated saline that they inject for bubble studies.

Conclusions:

Clinical practice patterns vary widely among paediatric cardiology interventionalists. A standardised clinical approach, new diagnostic tools, or both are needed to standardise our field’s approach to diagnosing, studying, and treating single ventricle pulmonary arteriovenous malformations.

Information

Type
Original Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Table 1. Respondent demographics

Figure 1

Table 2. Survey responses—aetiology of single ventricle PAVMs

Figure 2

Table 3. Survey responses—conceptual considerations for assessing single ventricle PAVMs

Figure 3

Figure 1. Volumes of air and saline used by respondents who self-reported using the same volume of air and saline for all bubble studies. Scatter plot showing each response with median and interquartile ranges.

Figure 4

Table 4. Survey responses—echnical considerations for assessing single ventricle PAVMs