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.

The Asian Society of Pediatric Cardiology has advocated the importance, since its founding in 1976, of studying and disseminating knowledge about the important cardiovascular diseases prevalent in Asia. Subpulmonie ventrieular septal defect, reportedly more common among Japanese than among Occidentals, swiftly became a focus of attention. Soon after the Second Asian Congress of Pediatric Cardiology, held at Bangkok in 1979, fellow Asian pediatric cardiologists resolved to study this problem, and the main theme of the next Congress was scheduled to be "Is Subpulmonie Ventrieular Septal Defect an Oriental Disease?". Prospective as weIl as retrospective studies were encouraged, the results to be presented and discussed at the Congress. The Third Asian Congress of Pediatric Cardiology was held in Taipei on November 28, 1983. Distinguished pathologists, cardiologists, and surgeons from the US, UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands - Drs. L. H. S. Van Mierop, S. BlumenthaI, D. McNamara, J. Malm, N. Talner, J. Somerveille, J. Stark, L. G. Van der Hauwaert, and A. E. Becker - were invited to present their work and actively participate in the Congress. The important data thus gathered from both Asian and Western countries, and some results of the lively debates enjoyed during the Congress, are included in this volume. The expert views on the development of the ventrieular septum and the classification of ventricular septal defects appearing in this volume are most succinct and informative.

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.