Adult Congenital Heart Disease in the 21st Century

Due to advances in medical and surgical therapies for patients with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), children and adolescents with CHD have over a 90% survival rate. As a result, the number of adults with CHD in the United States has now surpassed the number of children with these conditions. There are currently more than 1.3 million adults with CHD and this prevalence is expected to increase 5% annually. As a result, the hospital admissions for patients with adult congenital heart disease have risen by 101% between 1998 and 2005. Nearly 20% of these admissions were for cardiac surgery and admissions involving cardiac procedures, such as cardiac catheterizations, have also risen dramatically.

This conference will focus on several challenging aspects of CHD including the management of the patient with a single ventricle, the pregnant patient with CHD, and utilizing innovative medical and surgical therapies in the evaluation and treatment of these patients.