Paediatric Congenital Heart Disease

Robert H Anderson, University College, London, UK
Andrew N Redington, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003277

The understanding, diagnosis and treatment of congenital malformations of the heart has been revolutionized over the past few decades, reflecting not only a greater appreciation of the morphological variability to be found within the malformed hearts, but also huge advances in the design and construction of machines available for diagnosis, treatment and life support. Nowadays, despite the anatomical complexity, accurate diagnosis is to be expected in all cases, with the greater majority of patients expected to survive treatment, which is being undertaken progressively earlier in life.

Keywords: sequential segmental analysis; cross-sectional echocardiography; catheterization; angiography; interventional catheterization; open heart surgery

Figure 1. The three segments within the heart and their junctions.
Figure 2. The four basic patterns of arrangement of the organs within the body. The overall arrangement of the isomeric variants is often called visceral heterotaxy. Bronchial morphology depends on the bronchial length, the morphologically right bronchus being significantly shorter than the left (arrows). The arrangement within the heart, in the first analysis, reflects the structure of the morphologically right appendage (MRA) and the morphologically left appendage (MLA).
Figure 3. In this patient, an interatrial communication in the oval fossa has been closed by insertion, through a catheter, of an umbrella with two discs made of nitinol wire. In (a) the left half of the double umbrella (arrow) has been opened in the left atrium (LA). In (b) the arrangement is shown in which the right-sided umbrella (arrow) is opened in the right atrium (RA), sandwiching the margins of the deficient atrial septum.
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Article Title: Paediatric Congenital Heart Disease
 
How to Cite close
Anderson, Robert H, and Redington, Andrew N(Apr 2001) Paediatric Congenital Heart Disease. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0003277]