The management of hypoplastic left heart has come a long way. 25 years ago, these children were left to die. Now, either a Norwood procedure or heart transplant is routine management, and can be done without blood.

We had a very good experience with a patient recently treated by Dr. Mark Galantowitz at Nationwide Childrens Hospital.

It may also be a good idea to contact Dr. Starnes at USC.

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Joseph T. Malak, MD

so is there any way i can get help from these doctor mentioned i live in california so would i have to travel...

Dr Stanes
Bloodless Heart Surgery
University of Southern California

Don't know how far that is from your house, doubt its far

University of Southern California, 1520 San Pablo Street, HCC2 Suite 4300, Los Angeles, CA 90033
Phone: 323.442.5849 Fax: 323.442.5956 E-mail: ctinfo@surgery.usc.edu

Cardiothoracic (Heart and Lung) Surgeon: Vaughn A. Starnes, MD
Dr Vaughn Starnes at USC

The Dr at Nationwide Childrens hospital is at New York, he seems to know about hypoplastic left heart syndrome and has published paper(s) on it

and is involved in the blood conservation program at that hospital, it is the opposite side of America. If you had relatives that are from there that would be helpful.

Hope everything goes well

My limited experience with children with hypoplastic left heart is that they look surprisingly well the first few days of life. It is not until a couple weeks after birth when the ductus closes that they tend to get into big trouble. So travelling hundreds of miles by car or even thousands by air, if you proceed promptly following discharge from the local hospital of birth, may be very doable.

Of course, there will likely be insurance coverage issues that will need to be worked on soon. You might find a team that will agree to treat but your carrier may not be so happy to authorize.

There are also well-established pediatric bloodless programs in a number of hospitals, including Rainbow in Cleveland, Devos in Grand Rapids, Childrens Hospital of Central California, Portland OR, Fairfax VA, ...

You may want to also look into getting a dose of EPO administered on the second day of life, in anticipation of the first surgery. It will take a few days to kick in. Don't give it if the baby is born with a high hematocrit (above 50 -- as many stressed infants are), as this may lead to clots.

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Joseph T. Malak, MD

hey thanks everyone ill check up on that wit usc so u think i will have proplems with insurance ....?

Find out from your Insurance company

How does insurance cover babies?

ok hopefully i get an apointment with the children hospital in LA they have a new procedure called hybrid norwood in stead of the original norwood precedure.. ...just wanna say thanks to everyone and their help ill keep you all informed ...... ........oh yeah therse another procedure that ucsf told me about but were kinda hesitant about saying was some sort of metal shunt to keep the doctus from closing when child is born... wondering if anyone new about it