Management of patients with congenital heart disease requires detailed information
on cardiac and great vessel morphology. In previous years, the diagnosis and the treatment
of congenital malformations has often depended on cardiac catherization, and in many
institutions, cardiac catherization still remains the gold standard against which
other modalities are measured. In the past decade, however, imaging methodologies
have increasingly shifted toward the use of less invasive and noninvasive techniques.
Currently, echocardiography is the initial method of choice in evaluating the anatomy,
especially in younger patients. Meanwhile, several newer imaging techniques like magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) and spiral or multislice computed tomography (CT) are in use.
They offer extremely useful information about abnormalities of the heart and great
vessels as well as the assessment of cardiac anatomy and function. Echo, angiography,
MRI and CT should be seen as complimentary investigations in adult congenital heart
disease.
Key words:
Adults with congenital cardiac disease - Echocardiography - Magnetic resonance imaging
- Computed tomography
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1 This paper has been presented at the 3rd Joint Meeting of the German, the Austrian, and Swiss Societies for Thoracic and Cardiovascular
Surgery, Lucerne, February 9-12, 2000.
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Dr. H. Kaemmerer
Deutsches Herzzentrum München
Klinik für Kinderkardiologie und angeborene Herzfehler
Lazarettstraße 36
80636 München
Germany
Telefon: +49-89-1218-3005
Fax: +49-89-1218-3003
eMail: kaemmerer@dhm.mhn.de