Percutaneous Interventions for Congenital Heart Disease is written for pediatric cardiologists specializing in interventional cardiology and need a step-by-step guide to carrying out procedures, as well as adult cardiologists. Covering all kinds of interventions in congenital heart disease and the new field of structural heart disease, the book examines:

• Acquired valvular heart disease
• Post-myocardial infarction ventricular septal defects
• PFO closure
• Closure of the left atrial appendage
• Paravalvular leak closure
• Techniques for treating diseases of the aorta
• Hybrid procedures

An essential text on how to perform interventional cardiology for congenital heart disease in both the pediatric and adult patient, this expertly written work will help to overcome barriers between pediatric and adult cardiologists, and pave the way for new cardiovascular interventionalists.

This book is the offspring of the annual Frankfurt course of interventional cardiology which has focused strongly on congenital heart disease. This course has, year by year, gained in reputation. It is essentially a practical course. The live case demonstrations are the heart of such meetings. This book reflects the course and is a practical book; a ‘how to’ book. A quick scan of the 60 or so chapters reveals the galaxy of talent operating and lecturing during the courses and who are now giving their accounts in writing. As one who was in at the beginning of catheter interventions in congenital heart disease I am filled with wonderment at what is now on offer to the patients. As a young trainee in the late 1960s, Bill Rashkind’s introduction of balloon atrial septostomy marked a milestone in the treatment of transposition. Not only did it transform the outlook for babies with this malformation but it marked the start of the quest for practical minimally invasive types of treatment of structural cardiac anomalies. It was admittedly a slow start, with few innovations until the 1980s, but since then the treatment of cardiovascular diseases has been transformed. The advances that have been made have been due, in great part, to the partnership of physicians and industry and it would be hard to overstate the importance of the contribution of our colleagues in industry. With the rapid incorporation of advanced technologies into this field we have seen procedures and devices come and go. We can expect this dynamic to continue; so this book is a statement of where we stand in 2006 and I am sure that by 2016 a similar book will have many new techniques to offer.

Michael Tynan MD FRCP Emeritus Professor of Paediatric Cardiology Kings College London UK