Adults with Tetralogy of Fallot -- Repaired, Yes; Cured, No

There are approximately 500,000 adults with congenital heart disease in the United States, and each year another 10,000 children who have undergone surgical repair reach adulthood1. The largest diagnostic category among patients undergoing repair is isolated ventricular septal defect, followed by tetralogy of Fallot. In classic tetralogy of Fallot, an anterior displacement of the infundibular septum results in a large ventricular septal defect and the development of infundibular pulmonary stenosis. Right ventricular hypertrophy is caused by right ventricular hypertension associated with both the ventricular septal defect and the pulmonary stenosis. Aortic override onto the right ventricle is the fourth . . .