Indications, criterions, and principles for biventricular repair

The hypoplastic left heart syndrome constitutes a wide spectrum of cardiac malformations, characterized by varying degrees of underdevelopment of the structures of the left heart and aortic arch. At the severe end of the spectrum, there is aortic and mitral atresia, and the left ventricle is vestigial. In contrast, at the mild end, there is hypoplasia of the left ventricle in the absence of overt stenosis of either the aortic or mitral valves, the combination we have described as hypoplastic left heart complex.1Until recently, debate with regard to the optimal surgical approach has centered on the choice between the Norwood operation and neonatal cardiac transplantation. In the last several years, nonetheless, it has been shown that of biventricular repair can be achieved in those patients at the favorable end of the spectrum that we designated as having the complex rather than the syndrome.1,2It is well recognized that an ongoing difficulty is the inconsistent and imprecise definition of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. In this presentation, I summarize our own criterions, and our principles for biventricular repair, as based on our experience at the Montreal Children's Hospital, for those patients we judge to have the hypoplastic left heart complex.