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Cardiac Imaging in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease: Unknowns and Issues Related to Diagnosis

  • Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease (G Singh, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Many adults with simple and complex congenital heart disease (CHD) survive to adulthood. The goal of imaging is to diagnose the underlying anomalies and to detect late complications of their CHD and past surgical repair, in order to assess the need for further intervention and better prepare for endovascular or open-heart surgery. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized tomography (CT) are increasingly utilized in this patient population, due to the technical advances made to these modalities in the past decade regarding image acquisition and reconstruction, spatial and temporal resolution, and radiation dose reduction. Here, we aim to review the role of cardiac MR in initial diagnosis, pre-treatment planning and post-surgical follow-up of adults with CHD, and to discuss the ancillary role of cardiac CT in these patients.

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Conflict of Interest

Dr. Cylen Javidan-Nejad, Dr. Anderanik Tomasian, and Dr. Elham Najafpour reported no potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Section of Cardiothoracic Imaging, Washington University, 510 South Kingshighway Blvd., Box 8131, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    Cylen Javidan-Nejad MD

  2. Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University, 510 South Kingshighway Blvd., Box 8131, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    Anderanik Tomasian MD & Elham Najafpour MD

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  1. Cylen Javidan-Nejad MD
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  2. Anderanik Tomasian MD
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Correspondence to Cylen Javidan-Nejad MD.

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Javidan-Nejad, C., Tomasian, A. & Najafpour, E. Cardiac Imaging in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease: Unknowns and Issues Related to Diagnosis. Curr Treat Options Cardio Med 15, 663–674 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11936-013-0270-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11936-013-0270-5

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