This post was authored by Robert Beekman, MD, FACC, chair of the ACC’s Adult Congenital and Pediatric Cardiology (ACPC) Member Section

The responsibilities of pediatric cardiologists are no longer limited to seeing that an infant with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) survives to childhood. Today, there are more adults than children with complex CHD, and the numbers continue to increase by about 5 percent a year. In an important article recently published in Heart, by Michelle Gurvitz, MD, FACC, and Arwa Saidi, MB, BCh, FACC, titled, “Transition in Congenital Heart Disease: It Takes a Village,” the authors assert that we must help older children and adolescents with CHD prepare for the opportunities and challenges of adult life and it will take a village. While the CHD community can claim victory on many fronts and can celebrate astonishing advancements in this field, we have learned surgeries are not curative, and procedures and pharmaceuticals cannot replace the need for patient transition into lifelong specialized care. In the past, bad transitions typically stemmed from a patient or family’s emotional attachment to a pediatric caregiver or lack of readily available adult CHD specialists and programs, and even a misunderstanding of how CHD patient ages over time.

However, Drs. Gurvitz and Saidi make an excellent point — it truly does take a village. As pediatric cardiologists, we must begin to implement transition programs in our practices and with our patients. We must emphasize the need for lifelong specialized care and understand the barriers our patients and their families face. We ourselves must be the impetus for bringing together the village to come up with a process.

The ACC’s ACPC Section strives to facilitate communication across much of this village, and build or identify resources accordingly. We recognize that our patients must learn adult strategies for maintaining their health and for making their own medical decisions. Our responsibility lies within emphasizing the importance of lifelong CHD care, and understanding the available and needed resources. We stand together as willing and enthusiastic members of this village.

Learn more about the ACC’s ACPC Member Section at CardioSource.org/ACPC.

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