**5. Conclusion**

Overall the information collected by gene expression profiling will help our understanding of disease mechanisms and provide insights useful for improving contemporary clinical treatment and prognosis of patients with congenital heart defects.

Congenital heart disease genomic research is still in its early stages with regard to the translation of studies' findings into clinical settings. However, inspection of other medical areas shows the potential of genomic medicine and where congenital heart medicine will be, possibly within the next few years. Microarrays are already being used in other fields to help clinicians better risk-stratify patients in addition to predict therapeutic responses and direct clinical and surgical decision making. Although considerable challenges remain, congenital heart disease genomic medicine promises to improve patient care and lower health care costs.
