Cyanotic congenital heart disease.

This review describes the evolving concepts of diagnosis and management of patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease. Early palliative surgical procedures were followed by reparative operations and are now to a large extent replaced by these operations which are designed to relieve the problem. Collaboration of the team of cardiologists, surgeons, radiologists, anesthesiologists and nurses has made the many developments possible. The teamwork has not only widened the scope of what can be accomplished but has also extended the opportunities for beneficial reparative surgery down to the first weeks and months of life. Precise diagnosis and meticulous operative and perioperative care by the team are essential elements of success. Long-term follow-up and regular analyses of results have led to continuing improvements. Although these patients were born to be blue, their color and their outlook have been changed during these last 3 decades to something close to rosy.