This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Newburger, J. W. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Newburger, J. W. Related Collections Valvular heart disease CV surgery: valvular disease Pediatric and congenital heart disease, including cardiovascular surgery Cardiac development

(Circulation. 2006;114:1556.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editor's Note

Jane W. Newburger, MD, MPH

Series Editor, Congenital Heart Disease for the Adult Cardiologist

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Congenital cardiovascular malformations are the most common birth defect, occurring in almost 1% of live births. Although congenital heart lesions are common in aggregate, they are comprised of rare and diverse disorders, ranging from simple lesions (eg, atrial septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus) that can be corrected with surgery or catheterization to single ventricle that can be palliated by the Fontan procedure. Dramatic advances in medical and surgical therapy have reduced the mortality rate from virtually all forms of congenital heart disease, and the great majority of children with congenital heart disease now survive to adulthood. The 2006 Report of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Research in Adult Congenital Heart Disease estimated that, by 2005, the number of adults with congenital heart disease had reached 1 million. For the first time, more adults than children with congenital heart disease are alive in the United States. The complexity of congenital heart disease in adults is at least as great as that in children and will increase further as a wave of patients with single ventricle, including those with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, reach young adulthood. Moreover, the dramatic increase in the population of adult survivors of congenital heart disease has been accompanied by increased recognition of long-term morbidities that will confront the adult cardiologist. Finally, although congenital heart disease usually presents in infancy and childhood, some lesions, such as atrial septal defect, may be first diagnosed in adulthood.

Articles in the series Congenital Heart Disease . . . [Full Text of this Article]