[Diagnosis of congenital heart defects in childhood]

Echocardiographic diagnosis of inborn developmental defects of the heart in children differs from the approach used in adults. Examination from the subcostal and suprasternal space is of utmost importance. On using "deductive echocardiography" individual segments of the heart are gradually assessed in the two-dimensional echocardiographic picture. On evaluating pathological changes (particularly borderline values), the use of Doppler signal and one-dimensional imaging is equally important in children as it is in adults.