Thiamine Deficiency in Children with Congenital Heart Disease Before and After Corrective Surgery

ABSTRACT. Background: Malnutrition is common in chil-dren with congenital heart disease, while thiamine deficiency (TD) is common in malnutrition, in critically ill children, and in adults with congestive heart failure treated with loop diuretics. Our goal was to determine whether children with congenital heart disease had TD and whether treatment with loop diuretics is related to TD in these patients. Methods: Twelve children with ventricular septal defect (VSD) treated with furosemide, and 10 children with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) referred for corrective surgery were consecutively enrolled into a prospective study. Data were collected 24 hours before surgery and 5 days after surgery for nutrition evaluation, medications used, anthropometric measure-ments, and laboratory markers of malnutrition. Thiamine and pyridoxine deficiencies were evaluated using activate