Outcome and assessment after the modified Fontan procedure for hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

BACKGROUND

We reviewed the outcome of 76 consecutive patients (age range, 5 months to 6 years; median age, 19 months) who underwent a modified Fontan procedure after initial palliative surgery for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) between January 1984 and December 1989.

METHODS AND

RESULTS

Modifications of the Fontan procedure included transatrial baffle of pulmonary venous return to the tricuspid valve (n = 10) or inferior vena cava baffle within the right atrium to the superior vena caval-pulmonary artery anastomosis, with pulmonary artery augmentation (n = 66). Actuarial survival rates were 74% (1 month), 58% (12 months), 56% (2 years), and 52% (4 years). Of the 43 survivors, 25 patients have returned for postoperative cardiac catheterization at a medium of 13 months after the Fontan procedure. Mean +/- SD hemodynamic values were cardiac index, 2.8 +/- 0.6 l/min/m2; right arterial pressure, 11 +/- 2 mm Hg; pulmonary artery wedge pressure, 6 +/- 3 mm Hg; and arterial oxygen saturation, 94 +/- 3%. No patient had significant tricuspid or native pulmonary valve insufficiency.

CONCLUSIONS

Survival after the Fontan procedure in patients with HLHS is comparable to survival after a Fontan procedure in patients with other complex congenital heart lesions. In the subgroup of patients with HLHS who survived both reconstructive surgery and a Fontan procedure and have been evaluated by cardiac catheterization after a Fontan procedure, the use of the right ventricle as the systemic ventricle yielded excellent intermediate results for Fontan physiology.