Diagnóstico del síndrome del corazón izquierdo hipoplásico

El SCIH se puede ver en las ecografías durante el embarazo. Un ecocardiograma fetal proporciona más información y le indica al equipo de parto cómo prepararse para la atención después del parto.

Las pruebas comunes que se usan para obtener más información sobre el corazón de un recién nacido incluyen:

• Echocardiogram (ultrasound images and videos of the heart)
• Radiografía de tórax, una imagen del corazón y los órganos circundantes
• Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart’s electrical activity
• Pulse oximetry (measuring the oxygen in blood on a fingertip or toe)

Cirugía de SCIH

HLHS most often is diagnosed through ultrasound before the baby’s birth. The cardiothoracic surgeons at Norton Children’s Heart Institute are poised to stabilize the newborn immediately while more diagnostic tests are performed.

In addition to administering prostaglandin to keep the PDA open, doctors will use medications and mechanical ventilation strategies (breathing assistance) to balance blood flow to the lungs and the rest of the body.

HLHS surgery may involve a series of three surgeries. In some cases, a child with hypoplastic left heart syndrome may need a heart transplant because the case is so complex or because the heart becomes weak after HLHS surgery.

Procedimiento de Norwood

• The Norwood procedure is done in the first or second week of a baby’s life to allow the right ventricle do the work of the left ventricle — pumping blood to the body — and its normal job of pumping deoxygenated blood returning to the heart back to the lungs.
• To create this new single-ventricle blood flow, cardiothoracic surgeons create a new aorta to connect to the right ventricle so it can take over the left ventricle’s job pumping oxygen-rich blood to the body.
• A tube is placed from either the large arteries off the aorta or the right ventricle and connected to the blood vessels supplying the lungs, also known as the pulmonary arteries, so the blood can pick up fresh oxygen.
• De esta manera, el ventrículo derecho puede bombear sangre tanto a los pulmones como al resto del cuerpo.
• Once stable, the baby will go home while they grow and build strength for the next procedure in a few months. The family is given a specially equipped iPad and other tools to monitor the baby’s condition and send data at least daily to the team at Norton Children’s Heart Institute. This allows providers to react quickly when a child’s condition changes — sometimes even before the parents realize something is wrong.

Procedimiento de Glenn

• The Glenn procedure typically is performed when the infant is 4 to 6 months old and is a step toward allowing the right ventricle to perform just the work of the left ventricle, pumping blood to the body.
• The Glenn procedure allows blood returning from the upper part of the body to go directly into the lungs, bypassing the right ventricle. Los cirujanos cardiotorácicos crean una conexión directa entre la arteria pulmonar y la vena cava superior, el vaso sanguíneo que devuelve la sangre desoxigenada de la parte superior del cuerpo al corazón.
• The procedure reduces the work of the right ventricle by removing the burden of handling blood returning from the upper part of the body. Blood returning from the lower part of the body still goes through the right ventricle at this point.