Congenital heart disease in the adult: clinical approach.

The remarkable advances in diagnostic techniques and in the surgical and medical care of infants and children with congenital heart disease have resulted in an impressive increase in longevity. Congenital heart disease in adults has emerged as a specialized area of cardiovascular interest. In response, special multidisciplinary facilities have been developed for the comprehensive care of adults with congenital heart disease. The scope of the discipline is relatively broad and includes unoperated survival patterns; survival patterns after surgery or interventional catheterization; a host of medical considerations; surgical considerations (operation and reoperation, cardiac catheterization as a therapeutic intervention, and noncardiac surgery); and the important problems of postoperative residua and sequelae. The purpose of this communication is to call attention to this subspecially and to excite the interest of radiologists in certain imaging aspects of congenital heart disease in adults.