Staged surgical palliation in hypoplastic left heart syndrome and its variants.
BACKGROUND
Surgical options for infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and/or its variants are cardiac transplantation or the heart-preserving staged palliation with Norwood operation,followed by a two-staged Fontan procedure. We describe our 17-year experience with staged palliation of HLHS and/or its variants.


METHODS
Between December 1989 and December 2006, 64 patients with HLHS and/or its variants underwent a Norwood procedure (mean age/weight, 11.8+/-2.5 days/3.4 kg). Forty-four patients had classical HLHS. Twenty-eight percent had associated congenital cardiac, structural, and genetic anomalies. Subsequently, 25 patients underwent a bidirectional Glenn procedure (stage II) and 11 patients a modified Fontan procedure (stage III). Others await stage II and/or stage III. The follow-up was 143.2 patient-years.


RESULTS
Including the learning curve, overall early mortality from 1989 to 1999 after the Norwood procedure was 39.06%. This decreased tremendously for the last seven years, and reduced to 12.8% in 2000 to 2003 until 0% in 2004 to 2006 (p < 0.005). The causes of mortality were sepsis, capillary leak,or heart failure. Three patients died between stages II and III. One patient underwent heart transplantation after the second stage because of heart failure. Among 34 Norwood survivors, four are slightly tachypneic from a mild pulmonary hyperperfusion; one presents symptoms of minimal brain disease.


CONCLUSIONS
This report identified an outcome improvement after staged palliation of HLHS, attributed to an increase in experience and expertise gained over time. Lower operative weight, ascending aortic size, prolonged duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, and hypothermic circulatory arrest were identified to significantly influence early mortality after the Norwood procedure.
Delmo Walter
Eva Maria B
EM
Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin, Germany. delmo-walter@dhzb.de
Hübler
Michael
M
Alexi-Meskishvili
Vladimir
V
Miera
Oliver
O
Weng
Yuguo
Y
Loforte
Antonio
A
Berger
Felix
F
Hetzer
Roland
R
D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple; D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000401:mortality; D001835:Body Weight; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013504:Cardiovascular Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D050792:Circulatory Arrest, Deep Hypothermia Induced; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D018636:Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010166:Palliative Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D018805:Sepsis / Q000401:mortality; D013997:Time Factors