Cyanotic congenital heart defects in adult patients
-
J. Timothy Bricker
Abstract
Usually cyanotic heart defects are fatal in infancy and childhood without surgical treatment. There are rare circumstances in which a cyanotic individual can survive into adult years with reasonably good health. Prolonged survival in unop-erated cyanotic heart defect cases is dependent upon well-balanced circulation with pulmonary blood flow that is near normal but not excessive. Physicians in practice can encounter such cases in which diagnosis was missed in childhood or who had a diagnosis of a cardiac malformation but are recent immigrants from a part of the world in which surgical treatment was not possible. These unusual survivors have a different spectrum of anatomic malformations than the cyanotic defects found in newborn babies. Even with a well-balanced circulation, chronic ventricular volume overload is likely to lead to myocardial dysfunction over time. The evaluation by a cardiac team with expertise in the treatment of congenital cardiac defects in adult patients is important to long-term health and survival of the patients.
©2010 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- Adults with childhood illness
- Reviews
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Epidemiology, assessment, and treatment among children, adolescents, and adults
- Caring for adults with cystic fibrosis
- Childhood asthma in adults
- Cyanotic congenital heart defects in adult patients
- Obstructive and regurgitant cardiac lesions in adults who had childhood heart disease
- Adults with left-to-right cardiac shunts and with shunts treated in childhood
- Transition of pediatric endocrine patients to adult care
- Adolescents and adults with inborn errors of metabolism
- Adults who had kidney disease in childhood
- Adult survivors of childhood cancer
- Adults with genetic syndromes
- Adult considerations of pediatric urologic care
- Adult patients with childhood anemias
- Disabled women and reproductive healthcare in the United States
- Children with allergic disease as adults
- Adults with congenital bleeding disorders
- Aging with intellectual disability. Current health issues
- Short Communication
- Transition from pediatric to adult care: social and family issues
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- Adults with childhood illness
- Reviews
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Epidemiology, assessment, and treatment among children, adolescents, and adults
- Caring for adults with cystic fibrosis
- Childhood asthma in adults
- Cyanotic congenital heart defects in adult patients
- Obstructive and regurgitant cardiac lesions in adults who had childhood heart disease
- Adults with left-to-right cardiac shunts and with shunts treated in childhood
- Transition of pediatric endocrine patients to adult care
- Adolescents and adults with inborn errors of metabolism
- Adults who had kidney disease in childhood
- Adult survivors of childhood cancer
- Adults with genetic syndromes
- Adult considerations of pediatric urologic care
- Adult patients with childhood anemias
- Disabled women and reproductive healthcare in the United States
- Children with allergic disease as adults
- Adults with congenital bleeding disorders
- Aging with intellectual disability. Current health issues
- Short Communication
- Transition from pediatric to adult care: social and family issues
