Talk:Fontan procedure

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I am not an expert at all in this field, but the article for hypoplastic left heart syndrome directly contradicts the assertion - which I elided - that the Fontan procedure always bypasses the right ventricle. The operations to treat HLHS in fact bypass the nonfunctioning left ventricle and allow the right ventricle to assume the job of pumping blood to the body. I believe that somewhere in this article, or perhaps in the article for the Norwood procedure or the HLHS article, there should be a mention of the bidirectional Glenn shunt as an intermediate operational stage, as well. This article really needs the attention of an expert, but in any case it's not accurate for it to focus solely on the procedure as a treatment for pulmonary atresia. Ataru 02:51, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Indeed - the Fontan procedure is used as the second of three stages for the repair of hypolastic left heart, as well as an intermediate stage in the repair of any single-ventricle circulation. This can include pulmonary atresia, although this is often repaired with a Sano or Blalock-Taussig shunt. Other conditions in which the Fontan procedure is employed include but are not limited to complex heterotaxy syndromes and severe AV canals. I'm a little unclear as to the significance of the notation for the patent ductus arteriosus, as this is nearly always ligated either during or prior to the Fontan.

Docwombat 02:36, 5 March 2007 (UTC)