1 Department of Pediatrics of the Harvard Medical School and the Sharon Cardiovascular Unit of the Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston
The natural course of congenital heart disease in the newborn infant may last only a few days or weeks; yet, many of these babies are salvageable through surgery. The clinician's problems include the necessity for early detection through recognition of persistant cyanosis or respiratory symptoms, exclusion of primary lung disease through chest x-rays and blood gas determinations, and establishing an accurate diagnosis as rapidly as possible through cardiac catheterization. An aggressive surgical approach to these critically ill infants can then result ill many survivors.