Recent advances have revolutionized diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in pediatric cardiology. Powerful new diagnostic techniques include color Doppler echocardiography, computerized tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging. Catheter-directed treatment of cardiac lesions with balloons and stents has become the treatment of choice, and cardiac arrhythmias in infancy and childhood are treated with radio-frequency ablation. To provide an update on these and other recent developments, the First Asian-Pacific Symposium on Pediatric Cardiology was held in Taipei in November 1994, attended by pediatricians, cardiologists, and surgeons, many of them of world renown. This book, a collection of the papers presented at the symposium, will contribute to improved recognition, understanding, and treatment of many important congenital and acquired heart problems in children. It will be of special interest to pathologists, pediatricians, cardiologists, and surgeons whose work involves care of infants and children with heart disease.
