Fontan Go! Clinic at Texas Children’s Heart Center

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About the Fontan procedure

The Fontan procedure is a cardiac surgery that supplies blood to the lungs in patients whose unique hearts have a single pumping chamber that supplies blood to the rest of the body. This type of cardiac surgery may be used to treat:

• Hypoplastic left heart syndrome
• Tricuspid atresia
• Unbalanced atrioventricular septal defect
• Double outlet right ventricle
• Double inlet left ventricle
• Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum

Fontan circulation affects how the heart and organs function at various ages and stages of the patient’s life. Surgery to achieve this circulation is most often completed before children enter school — between 2-5 years of age — and patients can anticipate this circulation carrying them into adulthood.

How the Fontan Go! Clinic helps patients

The Fontan Go! Clinic at Texas Children’s Heart Center helps patients and their families navigate the Fontan journey to remain healthy and thriving. As members of the No. 1-ranked pediatric heart center in the country, our care teams have vast knowledge and experience treating patients with Fontan circulation. In addition to heart health, this includes monitoring other organs — like the liver and lungs—and making recommendations for other treatments that may be necessary.

We treat the whole person with a 360-degree wellness approach that emphasizes:

• Exercise
• Family planning
• Mental health
• Nutrition
• Overall well-being

Comprehensive care

General Fontan care may include one or more of the following:

• Blood tests for maintaining Fontan health
• Cardiac catheterizations
• Cardiac MRIs
• Echocardiograms
• EKGs
• Exercise and lung function testing
• Liver imaging
• Neurodevelopmental care
• Psychological care

Our team of experts

The Fontan Go! Clinic’s multidisciplinary team of experts includes:

• A nurse coordinator
• Cardiac surgeons
• Exercise physiologists
• Hepatologists
• Pulmonologists
• Interventional cardiologist
• Nutritionists
• Psychologists
• Social workers

Each patient’s Fontan journey is unique. At Texas Children’s Fontan Go! Clinic, our goal is to promote wellness and fullness of life every step of the way. Contact us at 832-824-2712 or fontango@texaschildrens.org.