title: Balloon valvuloplasty for congenital heart disease in the fetus.
abstract: Fetal cardiac interventions are relatively new and promising therapeutic options for modifying CHD in utero. Techniques for safe access to the fetus must be improved and patient selection criteria must be developed. Most important is early detection and referral of all patients who have CHD, enabling improved outcomes for infants. Finally, it should be stressed that performing successful fetal cardiac interventions requires multidisciplinary collaboration between perinatologists, cardiologists, fetal surgeons, and anesthesiologists. Each discipline has specific skills for providing safe access to the fetus, performing the procedure, and providing perioperative care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. wayne.tworetzky@tch.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tworetzky
authors.forename: Audrey C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Marshall
mesh_terms: D002404:Catheterization; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis