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| Children born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome require surgery in order to survive. Without surgery or transplantation, HLHS is 100% fatal. |
The animations to the left represent the stages of the Norwood Palliative
or near normal blood oxygen levels, following the Fontan (final surgery).
As you can see, the purpose of the surgery is to bypass the missing
ventricle, and cause the present ventricle to do the work of both. If the
child is born with Hypoplastic LEFT Heart Syndrome, the left ventricle and
left sided structures are missing or underdeveloped, which is the ventricle
which would normally pump blood to the brain, body, and vital organs. If
the child is born with Hypoplastic RIGHT Heart Syndrome, the right
ventricle and right sided structures are missing or underdeveloped, which
would normally pump blood to the lungs.
In either case, surgery must be performed in order to give the child a
chance at life, either through the Norwood Correction, or through heart
transplantation. With both choices, the child will never be "normal", will
have to take medicine their entire lifetime, will have to be closely
monitored by a cardiologist and other doctors, and life expectancy is
unknown and unpredictable.
Click here to view member submitted surgery photos of their children.
**Please keep in mind, these are surgery photos, and therefore are graphic
by their nature.
or near normal blood oxygen levels, following the Fontan (final surgery).
As you can see, the purpose of the surgery is to bypass the missing
ventricle, and cause the present ventricle to do the work of both. If the
child is born with Hypoplastic LEFT Heart Syndrome, the left ventricle and
left sided structures are missing or underdeveloped, which is the ventricle
which would normally pump blood to the brain, body, and vital organs. If
the child is born with Hypoplastic RIGHT Heart Syndrome, the right
ventricle and right sided structures are missing or underdeveloped, which
would normally pump blood to the lungs.
In either case, surgery must be performed in order to give the child a
chance at life, either through the Norwood Correction, or through heart
transplantation. With both choices, the child will never be "normal", will
have to take medicine their entire lifetime, will have to be closely
monitored by a cardiologist and other doctors, and life expectancy is
unknown and unpredictable.
Click here to view member submitted surgery photos of their children.
**Please keep in mind, these are surgery photos, and therefore are graphic
by their nature.
Here are some links to
some great sites on the Norwood Procedure:
- Here is a glossary of Heart Disease terms from the American Heart Association.
- http://www.heartcenteronline.com/myheartdr/common/artprn_rev.cfm?filename=&ARTID=341
- http://www.pediheart.org/practitioners/operations/norwood.htm
- http://www.hlhsinfo.homestead.com/surgeries.html
- http://www.chw.org/display/PPF/DocID/1364/router.asp
- http://www.lhm.org.uk/clients/lhm/medical/hlhs/norwoodProcedure.asp Transplant info also
- http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=76076
- http://www.mayoclinic.org/pediatrics-rst/hypoplastic.html Transplant info also
- http://www.perfline.com/links/Hypoplastic_Left_Heart_Syndrome/ Transplant info also
Here are some links to
some great sites on Pediatric Heart Transplantation:
- http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4589
- http://www.margatelibrary.org/hearttrans.html
- http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2797.htm
- http://www.transplantbuddies.org/library/htbasics.html
- http://www.health-x.com/health-x/heart-transplant.html
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