Introduction

Congenital heart diseases are the most common neonatal malformations, ranging from 8 to 15/1000 live births in various communities. Improvement of knowledge in the genetic and etio-pathogenic aspects of these malformations as well as the technical advances of diagnostic and therapeutic tools have brought about a significant improvement in overall long-term patient outcome over the last few decades. This e-book is an update on the most recent genetic, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of this pediatric cardiology. Specifically, the book explains, in detail, recent acquisitions in the field of interaction between the genome and heart development, advances in diagnostic non-invasive techniques and novel therapeutic applications of the percutaneous and “hybrid” cardiologic/surgical procedures. These developments in diagnostics and therapeutics will be extremely valuable for both pediatric and adult cardiologists treating patients with congenital heart defects