Kongenitale Herzvitien im Erwachsenenalter

摘要

Congenital heart disease (CHD) occurs in 0.4–0.9% of newborn infants. In Germany approximately 6500 infants per year are born with a CHD and approximately 5500 children can expect to live into adulthood. Therefore, in the near future an increasing number of adults with CHD will be treated by anaesthesiologists for cardiac and noncardiac surgeries. Echocardiography is the mainstay in diagnosis of most patients with CHD and useful for monitoring cardiac function. During surgery, transoesophageal echocardiography can provide real-time assessment of ventricular function, intracardiac shunting, preload and valve function. After a brief review of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of different CHD defects, this article focuses on the role of echocardiography for cardiac monitoring of adult patients with CHD. The different uses of transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography are also discussed.