Imaging Congenital Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

The radiographic evaluation of congenital heart disease (CHD) is based upon identifying and characterizing structural changes reflecting abnormal blood flow or pathophysiologic homeostatic mechanisms resulting from structural or metabolic derangement. Evaluation of adult patients with CHD is complicated by the superimposition of acquired heart disease (with associated pathophysiologic changes) on the now chronic changes associated with palliated or untreated CHD. Progress in the diagnosing and managing pediatric and adult patients with CHD has been closely tied to progress and advancement in our ability to visualize cardiac structure. Correlation of clinical presentation with the demonstration of structural abnormalities is a cornerstone to early and accurate diagnosis and evaluation of medical and surgical management of CHD. Thus, the history of cardiac medicine can be told in terms of the history of cardiac imaging.