The goal of the Boston Children's Hospital Complex Biventricular Repair Program is to assess and maximize the possibility of “two-ventricle” circulation for certain newborns and children who have a borderline single ventricle heart defect. These are heart conditions where one of the heart’s two lower chambers (ventricles) isn’t large enough or strong enough to work correctly. Our surgeons use new procedures and innovative technology to achieve two-ventricle circulation in children who are not candidates for this approach at most other hospitals.
The group explores the different possibilities of treatment for patients with borderline single ventricle patients outside of the standard single ventricle palliation. These options include biventricular repair, biventricular conversion, and ventricular recruitment (or staged biventricular conversion).
The ultimate goal of biventricular repair, recruitment, and conversion is to create a heart with two pumping ventricles.
If it is determined that your child is not a candidate for biventricular repair or conversion, we can continue down the path of single ventricle palliation.
Conditions we may treat using complex biventricular repair or conversion
Our team evaluates each child individually to determine if he or she may be a candidate for a biventricular repair, recruitment, or conversion. Some of the heart conditions we may be able to treat using these techniques include:
- borderline small left and right heart
- hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS)
- unbalanced atrioventricular (AV) canal
- double-outlet right ventricle (DORV)
- complex forms of transposition of the great arteries
- complex intracardiac anatomy (straddling or criss-cross AV valves)
Our expertise in complex biventricular repair
Each year, we evaluate nearly 100 children for possible biventricular repair or conversion and are able to initiate ventricular recruitment on many of these children.
Treating more of these complex pediatric patients than any other institution in the world, we are here to offer you a customized second opinion evaluation and care plan. Our highly specialized team of pediatric cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, cardiac anesthesiologists, cardiac critical care specialists, and nurse practitioners uses innovative methods to evaluate, diagnose, and treat your child, including advanced imaging or simulation modeling.
Care for your child extends beyond the procedures and hospitalization. After returning home, we stay in close contact with you and your local providers to monitor your child and determine next steps in the pathway of care. We’re always available to ensure all your questions or concerns are addressed.
Advanced medical imaging for complex biventricular repair and conversion
When children come to the Boston Children’s Benderson Family Heart Center with complex heart conditions, it is critical for us to create an accurate roadmap to determine all treatment options available. To guide us, cardiologists and surgeons from Boston Children’s have been working with our colleagues in industry to develop the methods and techniques that provide the most “real-life” in-depth view of the heart and its valves. While the results of these efforts continue to evolve, our patients are already benefiting from these advanced imaging techniques.
Based on the unique characteristics of your child’s heart, our specialized team uses the most advanced imaging technology available to determine a customized approach for your child and monitor the progress of his or her ventricular recruitment.
Three-dimensional echocardiography, cardiac MRI, and CT scanning have been tailored to optimize diagnosis and monitoring of patients treated by the program.
