Congenital Cardiac Defects: A Physician's Guide for Evaluation and Management

Abstract

This report was designed primarily for the physician who is not a cardiologist but who encounters, in the course of his practice, patients with congenital malformations of the heart. It will help him decide whether and when such patients should have special studies done in a cardiac center or by a cardiologist familiar with these problems. It is divided into three parts: one on infants, one on children and adults, and the last on management. The first two parts are designed to assist the physician in the selection of patients for special studies, the last to aid him in the management of patients under his care. A special section in part III is devoted to care of the pregnant woman with a congenital defect. The decision as to which studies are needed and when they should be performed should be left to the cardiologist or center to which the patient is referred.