Congenital heart disease: the children will become elderly

Congenital heart disease is the most common congenital malformation occurring in just over 1% of live births. With the advances in noninvasive diagnostics, interventional catheterization, congenital heart surgery, cardiopulmonary bypass and postoperative care a dramatic change in the prognosis for children born with congenital heart disease has been observed the last decades [1,2]. Today more than 95% of children born with congenital heart disease reach adult age. While the relative risk of mortality during infant life remains substantially higher than for healthy persons of similar age it is never the less in absolute terms the risk is low. This will rapidly increase the number of, not only young adults, but also senior adults and elderly with congenital heart disease. Patients with congenital cardiac malformations can be divided into those who do not need surgery (roughly half), because their condition will either be of none or very small significance (such as small ventricular septal defect [VSD], small atrial septal defect [ASD]) or because it will heal with time (such as spontaneous closure of VSD, ASD or ductus arteriosus). Those who have undergone an intervention by catheter and/or surgery and who which can either be considered “cured”, such as patients with persistent ductus arteriosus, VSD and small ASD treated with surgery or catheter. These patients are in general not followed up Editorial