Congenital malformations of the heart are often dismissed as a form of complex heart disease, which is too difficult to understand, and is best referred to the specialists. The advent of cross-sectional and, more recently, three-dimensional echocardiography, enables the structural malformations to be visualised virtually non-invasively.

Congenital malformations of the heart are often dismissed as a form of complex heart disease, which is too difficult to understand, and is best referred to the specialists. The authors of this handbook, however, aim to dispel this myth. The advent of cross-sectional and, more recently, three-dimensional echocardiography, enables the structural malformations to be visualised virtually non-invasively.