Congenital Heart Disease and Neurodevelopment: Understanding and Improving Outcomes

Congenital Heart Disease and Neurodevelopment: Understanding and Improving Outcomes brings together the work of leading researchers from the U.K., Europe, and the U.S. to provide a comprehensive examination of the causes, risks, and neurodevelopmental and psychological outcomes in children with congenital heart disease. The book includes longitudinal studies which have tracked outcomes from birth through late childhood and explores the emergent phenotype and etiologies, risk, and protective factors that strengthen proposed models.

Medical and surgical advances have meant that greater numbers of children with even the most severe congenital heart disease (CHD) now survive well into adulthood. Studies over the past 20 years have suggested certain neurodevelopmental and psychological features are common, with clinical interventions being internationally articulated. The U.K. Belfast Center has developed and evaluated unique early intervention programs to circumvent the common problems discerned and promote optimal adjustment and outcomes. The first edition of Congenital Heart Disease and Neurodevelopment: Understanding and Improving Outcomes describes these programs in detail and outlines promising results obtained by researchers worldwide. Such interventions, together with the U.S. consensus statement (Circulation, 2012) on neurodevelopmental screening, hold great promise for clinical interventions.

Features input from leading research experts in the fieldDescribes cutting-edge research on longitudinal studies that link neurodevelopmental phenotypes with cutting-edge neuroimaging studiesDiscusses the first series of early intervention studies developed in Belfast targeted at key developmental transitions—birth and diagnosis, early childhood, and adolescenceIncludes clinical implications and action points in each sectionFeatures generalizable potential of interventions across other pediatric populations

Part I: Hearts and Minds 1. Congenital Heart Disease: The Evolution of Diagnosis, Treatments and Outcomes   Frank Casey 2. Historical Perspectives in Pediatric Psychology and Congenital Heart Disease   Nichola Rooney

Part II: Towards a Neurodevelopmental Phenotype 3. A Longitudinal Study from Infancy to Adolescence of the Neurodevelopmental Phenotype Associated with d-Transposition of the Great Arteries   David C. Bellinger and Jane W. Newburger 4. Neurodevelopmental Patterns in Congenital Heart Disease across Childhood – Longitudinal Studies from Europe   Hedwig H. Hövels-Gürich and Christopher McCusker 5. An Emergent Phenotype:  A Critical Review of Neurodevelopmental Outcomes for Complex Congenital Heart Disease Survivors During Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence   Maria Kharitonova and Bradley S. Marino

Part III: Psychological profiles and processes 6.  Is There a Behavioural Phenotype for Children with Congenital Heart Disease?   Christopher McCusker and Frank Casey 7. A Family Affair   Nicola Doherty and Elisabeth Utens 8. The Adult with Congenital Heart Disease   Danielle Emily Katz, Maria Chaparro and Adrienne Kovacs

Part IV: Interventions 9. The Congenital Heart Disease Intervention Programme (CHIP) and Interventions in Infancy   Nicola Doherty and Christopher McCusker 10. Growing up - Interventions in Childhood   Christopher McCusker 11. Healthy Teenagers and Adults – An Activity Intervention   Margaret Louise Morrison and Frank Casey 12. Conclusions and Future Directions for Neurodevelopmental Research and Interventions in Congenital Heart Disease   Christopher McCusker