Adult Congenital Heart Disease

(www.clevelandclinic.org)

Congenital heart disease is a type of defect in one or more structures of the heart or blood vessels. Congenital heart defects may be diagnosed before birth, right after birth, during childhood or not until adulthood. It is possible to have a defect and no symptoms at all. About 500,000 adults in the United States have grown into adulthood with congenital heart disease. This number increases by about 20,000 each year. Most adults with congenital heart disease should be monitored by a heart specialist and take precautions to prevent endocarditis (an infection of the heart) throughout their life. This free online chat is a great opportunity to ask Richard Krasuski, MD a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist your questions about diagnosis and treatment of adult congenital heart disease.
Dr. Richard Krasuski is Director of Adult Congenital Heart Disease Services and a staff cardiologist in the Section of Clinical Cardiology, the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, at the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine as Diplomate in cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Krasuski received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School following an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Bowdoin College in Maine. He took his residency in internal medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston followed by a fellowship in cardiology from Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, which included a subspecialty in valvular heart disease and adult congenital heart disease.
Dr. Krasuski's specialty interests include adult congenital heart disease including atrial septals defects, patent foramen ovale, and ventricular septal defects, to name a few.