[Cyanotic heart disease in the adult]

Patients with cyanotic heart disease may have an acceptable quality of life but are exposed to several complications: polycythaemia, often beneficial but with its risks: hyperviscosity, hyperuricaemia, thrombocytopaenia, blood clotting abnormalities; and the other complications of right-to-left shunt: cerebral abscess, cerebral embolism, endocarditis. The hypoxia may be improved by interventional catheterisation or palliative surgery. The Eisenmenger syndrome is life-threatening in pregnancy or during general anaesthesia. These patients are at risk and sometimes have iatrogenic complications, so usual cardiological treatment may be dangerous: diuretics, ACE inhibitors, oral anticoagulants, antiarrhythmics.