Unique Challenges of Adult Congenital Heart Disease in CardioOncology

Adults with congenital heart disease make up most patients with congenital heart disease vastly surpassing the pediatric patients largely because of significant improvements in the medical, interventional, and surgical approaches. An increasing body of evidence highlights the impact of noncardiac morbidity and mortality in these patients. Malignancy is a known major cause of death in adult patients with congenital heart disease. The causes are multifactorial, including genetics, radiation, delayed age-appropriate screening, anatomy variations, and thymectomy. This article provides an overview of the specific risk factors and how health care providers and patient education can mitigate some of these risk factors.