Possible Treatments For Single Ventricle Conditions

Having explained your child’s diagnosis, the doctor will go on to discuss what treatments are available. Although the surgery offered can bypass the heart abnormalities, it is unable to provide a long-term cure.

It is vital that parents are fully included in the treatment discussions and decisions taken for their child.

These treatment options may include:

Surgical Treatment

Included here are a variety of operations that may be offered in the treatment of single ventricle heart conditions. Most children go through a series of three operations over the first three to five years of their life. Even after all the surgery has been performed your child’s heart will not look normal or work normally, and it may be that it will gradually fail to function. If this occurs your doctors may suggest heart transplantation.

Supported Comfort Care

As the long-term outcome is unknown and some children’s conditions are extremely severe, it may not be possible or advisable to put the child forward for surgery. The baby would be allowed to die peacefully either in the hospital or at home; the family would be fully supported by the hospital and community care teams.

Transplantation

Transplantation, in the case of non-correctable heart disease is offered in a few centres around the world. It involves replacing the malformed heart with a donated one. This again is a high-risk treatment and does not provide a cure. At present in Great Britain this would not be commonly offered as a treatment as there are very few baby size hearts available.

Click the links below to view information on a specific single ventricle condition:

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