Thoracic Key

Patients who have undergone repair of congenital heart disease are at risk of atrial and ventricular tachyarrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD), both because of their arrhythmia substrate and their…

Over the past few decades, advances in pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery have revolutionized the prospect for patients with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD). Although cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR)…

The number of adult patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) is increasing due to improving outcomes after neonatal and infant surgery. Some 85% of neonates with CHD survive into adult…

† Deceased. Congenital malformations of the heart, by definition, originate in the embryo, then evolve during gestation, and change considerably during the course of extrauterine life. Before World War II,…

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) gives unrestricted access to the heart and great vessels noninvasively and without ionizing radiation. It can provide biventricular functional assessment, flow measurement, myocardial viability assessment, angiography,…

The univentricular heart encompasses a spectrum of rare and complex congenital cardiac malformations whereby both atria predominantly egress into one functionally single ventricular chamber, precluding biventricular repair. Population studies indicate…

Many patients who survive into adulthood with congenital heart disease (CHD) will develop progressive cardiopulmonary dysfunction. Some will develop ventricular failure, some will have pulmonary hypertension, and many will experience…

Every year, 4% of the population undergoes major surgery, defined as an intervention occurring in a hospital operating theater and usually requiring anesthesia for pain control. Worldwide, the mortality rate…

Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) are an expanding population who pose a significant challenge to the medical professionals who are caring for them. Although early surgery has transformed the…