Evaluation of anomalous systemic and pulmonary venous return in a young child with heterotaxy: a case study--implications for military dependent care.

The case of a young male patient with a complex admixture lesion who required a comprehensive anatomic evaluation before palliative cardiac surgery is presented. We describe a safe anesthesia protocol for obtaining the late-acquisition, gadolinium-enhanced, magnetic resonance angiographic images necessary to define the complex pulmonary and systemic venous anatomic features of his cardiac admixture lesion. Subspecialty physician staffing implications for the care of military dependants with congenital heart disease who might benefit from evaluation using this safe simple protocol and readily available magnetic resonance imaging technology are addressed.