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Transitioning the Pediatric Patient to the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Service

  • Cardiology (W Lai and W Zuckerman, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Advances in the management of pediatric patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) have led to an increased number of adults with CHD (ACHD). While many have undergone cardiac surgery, ACHD patients have premature morbidity and mortality and often die from cardiovascular events. In order to ensure appropriate follow-up for these patients, transition to a practice with experience managing ACHD patient is crucial. Ideally, these adolescents with CHD are placed on a seamless pathway for transition, but there are multiple barriers to this at the patient, provider, and health system levels. Repeated patient and family education is one intervention that has been shown to improve follow-up and cardiovascular outcomes.

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Correspondence to Stephen J. Dolgner.

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Stephen J. Dolgner, Jason F. Deen, and Karen K. Stout declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cardiology.

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Dolgner, S.J., Deen, J.F. & Stout, K.K. Transitioning the Pediatric Patient to the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Service. Curr Pediatr Rep 4, 13–17 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40124-016-0098-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40124-016-0098-z

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