[Magnetic resonance imaging and spiral computed tomography in the diagnosis and follow-up of adults with congenital heart and vessel disease].

Management of patients with congenital heart disease requires detailed information on cardiac and great vessel morphology. In previous years the diagnosis and treatment of congenital malformations often depended on cardiac catheterization and in many institutions cardiac catheterization still remains the gold standard against which other modalities are measured. In the past decade, however, imaging methodologies have increasingly shifted toward the use of less invasive and noninvasive techniques. Currently, echocardiography is the initial method of choice in evaluating the anatomy, especially in younger patients. Meanwhile, several newer imaging techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) are in use. They offer extremely useful information about abnormalities of the heart and great vessels as well as for the assessment of cardiac anatomy and function. Echo, angiography, MRT and CT should be seen as complementary investigations in adult congenital heart disease.