Key result
Paediatric palliative care aids management of failed Fontan physiology beyond 50 years post-surgery.
Why the study?
As staged palliative surgery for hypoplastic left heart syndrome surpasses 50 years in practice, providers increasingly face challenges managing patients with failed Fontan physiology.
Early integration of paediatric palliative care is crucial for managing the complex medical, psychosocial, and end-of-life needs of adolescents and young adults with failing Fontan physiology.
Supports individualized palliative approaches in long-surviving failed Fontan patients; leaves open need for prospective validation before practice change.
As staged palliative surgery for patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome ages to greater than 50 years in practice, providers are increasingly faced with the challenges of managing patients with “failed Fontan” physiology. In this brief case report, we discuss different ways paediatric palliative care can support this population.
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Hills et al. (2025) studied this question. Paediatric palliative care plays a crucial role in managing patients with failed Fontan physiology as they age beyond 50 years post-surgery.
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