Tetralogy of Fallot - Clinical Course and Treatment as a Mirror of Contemporary Cardiology/Cardiac Surgery Development in Correction of Congenital Heart Disease in the Adults

AIM: The aim of this paper was to present a 65 year old female patient with chronic heart disease, surgically treated for congenital heart defect type Tetralogy of Fallot. CASE REPORT: In the sixth year of life the patient underwent palliative Potts anastomosis surgery which created an anastomosis between the left pulmonary artery and the descending aorta. Total correction was made in 34 years of life, six months after catheterization, which indicated malignant pulmonary hypertension. She is regularly followed up by the cardiologists and receives daily therapy. The present state of the patient is satisfactory with cardiomegaly, light left ventricular dysfunction, moderate mitral and tricuspid regurgitation, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and aneurysmatic dilatation of left pulmonary artery as well as atrial fibrillation. CONCLUSION: The intense development of cardiology and cardiac surgery in the USA in children and adults over the last fifty years has led to the extension and improvement of the quality of life.