Impact of Initial Norwood Shunt Type on Young HLHS Patients Listed for Heart Transplant: A Multi-Institutional Study

Finding the correct role for heart transplant in the treatment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome

“…The current issue of The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation presents the contemporary experience with listing, waiting list survival, and post-transplant survival for infants and children with HLHS and other single right ventricular (RV) anomalies. 5,6 Kulkarni et al 5 used the publically available Single Ventricle Reconstruction (SVR) data set to describe the current state of heart transplantation as a rescue therapy after single-ventricle palliation in a well-characterized cohort. The outcomes for heart transplantation in this setting are disappointing.…”

“…The finding that non-HLHS variants carried higher risk than other single RV anomalies is counter to a previously published single-center report demonstrating HLHS carried a higher mortality at 1 year. 8 Also in this issue of The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation is a study by Carlo et al 6 that examines waiting list and post-transplant outcomes in all children younger than 6 years with HLHS and other single RV anomalies. The authors analyze the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study Group database, a prospective registry of all children listed for heart transplant at 35 centers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, to determine the effect of initial shunt type on waiting list and post-transplant survival.…”