What is a Fontan Clinic?
A Fontan clinic is a dedicated, multidisciplinary clinic that provides care to children, adolescents and adults who have undergone Fontan palliation for repair of their congenital heart disease. The Fontan clinic is geared to not only provide ongoing care to the patient but to also anticipate and screen for potential complications that can lead to poor survival and limited quality of life. We follow the guidelines put forth by the American Heart Association with the aim to improve long-term care of these patients.
What complications can develop in a Fontan patient?
- Heart failure due to systolic or diastolic dysfunction of the single ventricle
- Fontan circulation failure manifesting as
- Protein-losing enteropathy
- Plastic bronchitis
- Cyanosis
- Thromboembolism
- Atrial arrhythmias
- Fontan-Associated Liver Disease (FALD)
What services do we provide in the Fontan clinic?
Under one roof, we provide:
- Evaluation by dedicated pediatric cardiologists who specialize in the long-term care of Fontan patients, including management of Fontan circulation failure.
- A multidisciplinary approach with evaluation by a nutritionist and social worker.
- Ability to obtain cardiac studies beyond EKG and echocardiogram to include exercise stress test, cardiac MRI and cardiac catheterization services under one roof as needed.
- A dedicated nurse navigator to guide patients through the appointment, tests and follow-up recommendations.
- Identified subspecialists (nephrology, hepatology, pulmonology) with experience in the long-term care of Fontan patients.
- Referral to cardiac rehabilitation program as applicable.
- Expertise in identifying patients that need advanced therapies and evaluation for heart transplant.
Why Choose Children’s Hospital of Michigan for Fontan Care?
Many children thrive and do well after heart surgery. They'll need to see a cardiologist regularly, get EKGs, echocardiograms, lab tests and occasional cardiac catheterizations. A cardiac catheterization is a procedure that lets cardiologists check how the heart is working and perform some types of treatments. Centralized, comprehensive care after surgery is essential to reaching successful surgery outcomes.
Our dedicated team of pediatric cardiologists, subspecialists, advanced practice providers, nutritionist, social worker and ancillary staff is here to provide individualized care for your patients. Our team will also work with the referring cardiologist to ensure continuum of care for the patient.
Patients are not required to have had their Fontan surgery at Children’s Hospital of Michigan to attend the clinic. We welcome all Fontan patients from across the state and region, as well as second opinions.
To schedule an appointment, please call 313-745-5481.
