In a recent review article published in Circulation Research, Nobuyuki Ishibashi, M.D., and his colleagues at Children’s National Health System summarized what is currently known about how congenital heart disease affects brain maturation.

What’s known

Among all known birth defects, congenital heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in infants. Fortunately, advances in surgical techniques and treatments are improving the outlook for these children, and more and more are reaching adulthood. However, because of this increased longevity, it has become increasingly clear that children born with CHD are at risk of developing life-long neurological deficits. Several risk factors for these neurodevelopmental abnormalities have been identified, but direct links between specific factors and neurological defects have yet to be established.

What’s new

In a recent review article published in Circulation Research, a team from Children’s National Health System summarized what is currently known about how CHD affects brain maturation. Drawing from studies conducted at Children’s National as well as other research institutions, Paul D. Morton, Ph.D., Nobuyuki Ishibashi, M.D., and Richard A. Jonas, M.D., write that clinical findings in patients, improvements in imaging analysis, advances in neuromonitoring techniques and the development of animal models have greatly contributed to our understanding of the neurodevelopmental changes that occur with CHD.

Findings from Children’s National include:

• An assessment of the intraoperative effects of cardiopulmonary bypass surgery on white matter using neonatal piglets.
• An arterial spin labeling MRI study that showed newborns with complex CHD have a significant reduction in global cerebral blood flow.
• A rodent study that modeled diffuse white matter brain injury in premature birth and identified the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying lineage-specific vulnerabilities of oligodendrocytes and their regenerative response after chronic neonatal hypoxia.

The authors conclude that although there is ample clinical evidence of neurological damage associated with CHD, there is limited knowledge of the cellular events associated with these abnormalities. They offer perspectives about what can be done to improve our understanding of neurological deficits in CHD, and emphasize that ultimately, a multidisciplinary approach combining multiple fields and myriad technology will be essential to improve or prevent adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in individuals with CHD.

Questions for future research

Q: What are the cellular events associated with each factor involved in neurodevelopmental delays?
Q: How does the neurodevelopmental status of a patient with CHD change as they age?
Q: How do the genes involved in structural congenital cardiac anomalies affect brain development and function?