Fontan Surgery

After its echo they refer to a slight leakage of the tricuspid valve was anyone who lived this hlhs?

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a condition in which the left side of the heart is underdeveloped. Usually, the left ventricle, left atrium, the mitral valve and aorta are affected. This is called a syndrome because it can cover several variations and different degrees of development of these parts of the heart.


To understand HLHS, it is useful to understand how the heart of a normal baby. The heart has four chambers: the upper chambers are called left and right atria, and the lower chambers are called left and right ventricles.


Very simply, in a healthy heart blood flows from the right atrium to right ventricle where it is then pumped through the pulmonary artery to the lungs to be oxygenated. The blood then flows to the heart through the left atrium to left ventricle, which pumps this oxygenated blood into the aorta to the body. Thus the body's organs and tissues receive oxygen, which is vital. When a baby has HLHS, the left side of the heart is underdeveloped can not pump enough oxygenated blood to the body.


Babies with HLHS do not have problems while in the womb - it is only after birth that the heart no longer functions properly. This is because all babies receive oxygen from the placenta while in the womb, so blood does not need to go to the lungs. In addition, there is an opening between the pulmonary artery and aorta, called patent arterial duct (PDA) that is present in all babies. It allows blood to pass from the right ventricle to the body without passing through the left side of the heart.


The canal usually closes a few days after birth, separating the left and right sides of the heart. At this time that babies with HLHS will exhibit problems detected as they experience a lack of blood flow in the body. They may look blue, have trouble eating, breathing and quickly. If left untreated, this heart defect is fatal - usually within days or weeks of life.


Once HLHS has been diagnosed, a medicine called prostaglandin is given to keep the PDA open until surgery is performed. There are two surgical options for treating HLHS: a heart transplant or the 3-Stage 'surgery, the first step in what is called the Norwood procedure. (For surgical options without bloodshed, please see the Children's Hospital of Columbus
website.)

3-stage surgical procedure:
An alternative to heart transplantation is the 3-Stage surgery. Procedure 3-Stage rebuilt heart of the child by allowing it to work using only two of the four chambers of the heart.


The first step is called the Norwood procedure, or the "Modified Norwood" which was developed in 1979 by Dr. William Norwood. Because the left ventricle can not pump blood properly on the body, the Norwood procedure allows the right ventricle pumps blood to both lungs and body. This surgery is usually performed during the first week of the child's life. A new version of this first operation is called "Sano shunt. Ask your doctor about the pros and cons of traditional vs. Norwood Sano shunt, how many of each he has played, and what the success rates are.


The procedure for the second stage, called the hemi-Fontan or bidirectional Glenn, reduces the work of the right ventricle by allowing it to pump blood to the body and allows most of the blood to flow automatically from the body within lungs. The second step is performed when the pressure in the lungs of the baby fell, no longer requiring the pumping action of the law.