Initial experience in first-stage surgical treatment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome

Background / objective: Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is one of the most complex congenital heart defects. The incidence of HLHS is 1 in 4000 to 6000 live births. The mortality rate exceeds 90% without treatment in the first year of life. We review the initial experience in the surgical treatment of HLHS at our Centre. Patients and methods: There were 9 children operated on for HLHS from the year 2005 till now. Six of them went to operation in hemodinamically stable condition and three had a substantial insufficiency of systemic circulation. Four underwent Norwood I procedure with modified Blalock-Taussig shunt and five had Sano modification. Results: The first-stage Norwood procedure was successful in five (55.6%) cases - three with B-T shunt and 2 with Sano. Conclusion: Surgical treatment of HLHS remains in the learning curve period at our institution. We expect the rise of survival rate with the increase of case load and a more selective approach considering the risk factors