The paucity of reports in the English literature has prompted this paper.1 It consists of a review of 25 consecutive adults with congenital heart disease operated upon in our institution over a five-year period. The follow-up varies from a minimum of six months to a maximum of five years.
In order to ascertain the relative frequency of congenital heart disease in our area, the postmortem examinations done in Victoria Hospital, London, Ont, a 900-bed teaching hospital, were analyzed over a ten-year period. During this time there were 4,018 autopsies, and only 13 times was congenital heart disease encountered in a patient over 21 years of age.
Our operated series consists of Fallot's tetralogy, Fallot's trilogy, patent ductus arteriosus, coarctation, atrial and ventricular septal defects, and pulmonary valve stenosis.
Sixteen of the 25 patients were operated upon with the aid of extracorporeal circulation using a rotating disc oxygenator in the