Advanced care planning in adult congenital heart disease: A life-long journey

Adults born with congenital heart disease (CHD) represent a remarkable success story in the field of cardiology and cardiac surgery. In the 1950s, survival of children born with CHD was only around 15%. Due to the advances in pediatric cardiology, innovations in surgical and interventional procedures, more than 90% of children nowadays born with CHD are expected to reach adulthood [1]. However, behind this success story many challenges remain. Although the majority of these patients had operation(s) in childhood they are rarely cured, but rather palliated and therefore need to live with a chronic disease.
Source: International Journal of Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research