What is Fontan's procedure?

The fontan procedure is a palliative medical surgery in which the right atrium is attached directly to the pulmonary artery and bypasses the right chamber. This operation is usually performed in children with congenital heart defects, including tricuspid atresia, pulmonary atresia, the heart hypoplastic syndrome, the only left ventricle, the double right ventricular output and any other units or congenital heart defects that leave the heart with one functioning chamber. The fontan procedure allows the blood to passively travel from the hall to the pulmonary artery, which receives blood into the lungs to re -oxenic, instead of the transition to the right ventricle where it is pumped into the pulmonary artery. As a palliative treatment, it helps patients to live with their defect, but does not cure the condition.

Normal heart has four chambers: right atrium, right chamber, left atrium and left chamber. The right atrium receives a de-oxygenized, "used" blood from the body through the lower and superior vena cava and passes on torev to the right chamber where it is pumped into the pulmonary artery. The pulmonary artery takes blood to the lungs to re -oxygen, and then the blood is returned to the left atrium of the heart of the pulmonary vein. The blood then passes into the left ventricle, where it is exhausted into aorta, which adds oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. The fontan procedure is carried out on someone who has a defect that worsens the right chamber, which is responsible for the essential purpose of getting blood into the lungs where it has ooxygenated.

Several defects, usually caused by a developmental problem in the first eight weeks of pregnancy, can cause such a condition. In tricuspid atresia, a tricuspid valve that allows you to travel blood from the hall to ventricle, it is not formed and there is a solid tissue in place. In the left heart hypoplastic syndrome (HLHS), the left side of the heart does not develop properly, so the left ventricles are often small or non -existent. The Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome (HRHS) is a less common state similar to HLHS, but with real chambers of defective and left chambers functional. A child can also have oneThe left chamber in which the right chamber does not form correctly and, as the atrium connects, either through one shared valve or two separate valves, to the left chamber.

The

fontan procedure tries to get blood into the lungs without reworking the only functional chamber by circumventing the right ventricle and taking blood directly from the right atrium to the right ventricle. The operation is usually performed in two stages, Hemi-Fontan, also called two-way glenn procedure and completion of fontan. During Hemi-Fontan, pulmonary arteries that carry blood exhausted oxygen of the heart into the lungs and the superior vena cava (SVC), which takes oxygen exhausted blood from the upper body to the heart, is disconnected from the heart. SVC is associated with pulmonary artery so that blood poor on oxygen flows directly into the lungs. The lower vena cava (IVC), which carries oxygen exhausted blood from the lower body to the heart, remains associated with the heart, so this blood is neoxgenated.

patient can only live with the first half of the fontana procedure but often suffer from hypoxia or insufficient oxygenV because blood from the lower vena cava is not ooxgenated. Fontan's completion redirects the blood flow of IVC from leaving to the heart to the lungs straight into the lungs. This allows the child to grow normally and prevent increased susceptibility to the disease.

Fontan procedure is usually performed on infants after two years of age, because infants often cannot tolerate surgery of high vascular resistance or large amounts of work requires a circulatory system to obtain blood. Complications may include infection, pleural effusion or accumulation of fluids in the lungs and atrial fibrillation. These complications may require short or long -term use of drugs, chest pipes and surgery. In some cases, the fontan procedure may not adequately improve the health and quality of life of the patient and the patient may require heart transplantation. For many patients, however, the operation allows the child to develop properly and lead a normal, healthy life.