Abstract
Owing to dramatic advances in diagnosis, medical treatment, and surgical repair, the number of adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) now exceeds that of children with CHD. Most surgical interventions are not curable or radical in patients with CHD. Thus, not a few patients with moderate to severe CHD will require one or more surgical interventions. Therefore, regular life-long follow-up should be necessary in most adults with CHD. Echocardiography is one of the most essential diagnostic methods for adult CHD. In this review, the focus is on the preoperative diagnosis using echocardiography in six common CHDs, i.e., atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, atrioventricular septal defect, congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries, tetralogy of Fallot, and Ebstein’s anomaly.
