# Adult congenital heart disease

Condition · id `cardio:adult-congenital-heart-disease` · Cardiovascular Atlas · release `5dcd9b263fe17744` (public)

> General information from published sources, not medical advice, and not reviewed by clinicians. Check the cited source before relying on anything here.

The atlas's own text and curation may be reused under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/): credit the atlas, and do not use it commercially. See the atlas About page. Text quoted from a source stays under that source's own terms, given as the source's reuse\_basis. The atlas's reuse terms do not cover it. The downloads list each quotation with its source in third\_party\_quotations.

Also called: Adult congenital heart defects; Congenital heart disease in adults

Browse, organ or system: Heart  
Browse, condition area: Valve and congenital heart disease  

## In plain language

A congenital heart defect is a problem with the heart's structure that is present at birth. Treatment has improved, so most children with these defects now live to adulthood, and more and more adults live with congenital heart disease. A US government patient page advises regular follow-up visits, including with a doctor who specializes in adult congenital heart disease when that is needed. Some defects are in the valves, and some can be closed or treated through a catheter.

## Technical summary

Covers the adult survivors of congenital heart defects. A US government patient page describes the defects as present at birth and lists the heart walls, the valves and the large vessels as the most common sites; MedlinePlus says symptoms of milder defects may not appear until childhood or adulthood. A US government patient page ranks heart failure first among causes of death in adults with these defects. This atlas links two catheter devices here: the Amplatzer Septal Occluder (atrial septal defect) and the Melody pulmonary valve (pediatric and adult patients), both by their US approval scope only. It is filed under the shared record for congenital heart disease.

## Connected pages

- Some congenital defects involve the valves: Heart valve disease (`cardio:heart-valve-disease`)
- Adults living with a congenital heart condition: Congenital heart disease (`core:congenital-heart-disease`)
- Filed under this front: Procedures and surgery (`cardio:front-procedures-and-surgery`)
- Related to: MedlinePlus (`core:medlineplus`)
- Evaluated for this: Amplatzer Septal Occluder (`cardio:amplatzer-septal-occluder`) [a claim, not a settled fact; see claim `cardio:claim-amplatzer-approved-scope` and its context]
- Evaluated for this: Melody transcatheter pulmonary valve (`cardio:melody-transcatheter-pulmonary-valve`) [a claim, not a settled fact; see claim `cardio:claim-melody-approved-scope` and its context]

## Provenance

Content hash: 1317fa39b1a831a4263dc5ce29270d49747818deb72d49d1e2bcfd5c95e24527
Last substantive edit: 2026-10-15
Evidence last checked: 2026-10-14