ASEeXAM Review Course Michael D. Pettersen M.D. Director, Echocardiography Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children Denver, CO
[email protected] Congenital Heart Disease for the Adult Echocardiographer The vast majority of congenital heart defects are currently detected within the first several years of life. Therefore, the term “adult congenital heart disease” is something of an oxymoron. In the “ancient” days before diagnostic ultrasound, there was less precision in early diagnosis. Improvements in surgical techniques for correcting most congenital cardiac defects have progressed along with our diagnostic skills, making early diagnosis easier and necessary. For all of these reasons, congenital heart disease is more commonly recognized and more frequently diagnosed today than in years past. The result of this is a declining population of adult patients with undiagnosed congenital heart defects. However, the improvements in the success of medical management and surgical repair has led to the growing number of patients who reach adulthood. The clinical course, natural history, and outcome for many of these patients is uncertain because of the time has not allowed for collection of the “unnatural history” of the repaired defects. The ASEexam® will probably deal mainly with issues of unrepaired congenital heart disease. Therefore, these items will be emphasized in this manual and talk. However, questions may appear which deal with knowledge of congenital operations in terms of “what they do”, although the imaging issues are apparently not addressed in detail. Basics Principles of Congenital Heart Disease An understanding of the incidence and frequency of congenital heart disease will aid the clinician in developing an index of suspicion for variation types of defects.