Adult patients with grown-up congenital heart disease: Lights and shadows

GUCH is acronym of grown-up congenital heart of patients who become adults after cardiac surgery. The history of this population is in progress (temporal perspective), and long-term post-surgical follow-up revealed the paradoxical meaning of correction of complex congenital heart disease, because surgery does not restore normality: It prolongs life, improves symptoms, functional capacity, but it is often associated with illness and peculiar needs. Not only survival but also health-related quality of life, which is strictly connected to clinical status, socio-economic situation, psychological conditions, cognitive functions, level of care with particular attention to gender differences. Currently the history of these patients is better known: A multidisciplinary team of cardiologists with specific training in congenital heart disease, psychologists, neurophysiologists, obstetricians, social workers, experts in human science can improve the possibilities of these patients to realize their effective and safe project of life.