Therapy of Patients with Cardiac Malposition

Abstract

Positional abnormalities per se do not require treatment, but in their place, the accompanying pulmonary pathology in dextroposition patients and pathophysiologic hemodynamic abnormalities resulting from multiple defects in patients with cardiac malposition should be the focus of treatment. At the time of the first presentation, treating the pathophysiologic aberrations caused by the defect complex, whether it is by improving the pulmonary blood flow or restricting it, is the first step. Some patients with simpler or single defects are amenable to surgical or transcatheter therapy and should be treated accordingly. Other associated defects should also be treated appropriately. Biventricular or univentricular repair dependent on the patient’s cardiac structure should be planned. Complications in-between Fontan stages and after conclusion of Fontan surgery may occur and should be promptly diagnosed and addressed accordingly. Several other cardiac abnormalities unrelated to the initially identified heart defects may manifest in adulthood, and they should also be treated.