Introduction

Abstract

Florida is the fourth largest state in the United States of America, and the Congenital Heart Institute of Florida is the largest programme providing services for congenital cardiac surgery in Florida. Our Institute is very grateful to Bob Anderson, and the team at Cardiology in the Young, for their support of our programme, and for the opportunity to publish this Supplement. Bob Anderson was a valued faculty member, and tremendous supporter, of our third annual symposium, held at the All Children's Hospital and The University of South Florida, and devoted to echocardiographic, anatomic, surgical, and pathologic correlations of congenital cardiac disease. Our Symposium to be held in 2004, coinciding with the appearance of this supplement, will mark the third consecutive year that Bob Anderson has traveled to Saint Petersburg, Florida as a Featured Guest Speaker. In 2002, at our Second Annual Symposium, the focus of our four-day meeting was the abnormalities of the ventricular inlets and atrioventricular valves, with a full day devoted to echocardiography, followed by three single days spent discussing the tricuspid valve, the mitral valve, and the common atrioventricular valve. In 2003, at our third annual symposium, the focus of our four-day meeting was controversies concerning the hypoplastic left heart syndrome, again beginning with a full day devoted to echocardiography, followed by three single days this time discussing staged palliation by means of the Norwood sequence, replacement by cardiac transplantation, and biventricular repair. A feature of the symposium was the numerous debates. In 2003, our featured guest speakers, in addition to Bob Anderson, were Leonard L. Bailey and his wife Nancy, from Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda, California. Bob Anderson will again return in 2004, when our other featured guest speaker will also be from Great Ormond Street, namely Martin J. Elliott. The focus of our meeting in 2004 will be controversies concerning the arterial switch, the Ross procedure, and reconstructions of the right ventricular outflow tract, again beginning with a full day devoted to echocardiography, followed by three single days discussing the pulmonary valve, the aortic valve and the Ross procedure, and the arterial switch procedure, with daily debates.