The physiology of congenital heart disease: assessment by Doppler color flow mapping.

The use of Doppler echocardiography is a routine part of the noninvasive assessment of the patient with heart disease. In children with congenital heart disease, pulsed- and continuous-wave Doppler echocardiographic techniques provide accurate, reproducible hemodynamic data relative to structural defects. Doppler color flow imaging, however, allows for qualitative assessment of blood flow patterns, which may give important insights into the changing physiology of the newborn infant or that of a patient in the medical or surgical intensive care settings. Ten cases are presented in which this flow information is instructive in understanding the physiological sequelae of congenital heart disease.