New Frontiers for the Fontan Survivor: Challenges, Opportunities and the Ultimate Destination of Heart/Liver Transplantation

This one-day symposium will provide a comprehensive update on the long-term issues faced by adult Fontan survivors. The course focuses on patients with “failing” Fontan physiology and the available tools and therapies for the treatment of this challenging subset of patients, including updates on medical therapies, catheter-based and surgical techniques for palliation and support. The ultimate therapeutic options of orthotopic heart and multi-organ transplantation are covered in detail as the need grows in this aging Fontan population. The target audience includes adult and pediatric congenital cardiologists, congenital and transplant cardiac surgeons, heart failure/transplant specialists, hepatologists, liver transplant surgeons, cardiac intensivists, cardiology and cardiac surgery trainees, cardiac nurses, and physician assistants.

Learning Objectives:

• Define the “failing” Fontan patient
• Describe the role of echocardiographic
  imaging, exercise testing and cardiac catheterization
• Utilize evidence-based medical therapies for treatment and surveillance of the Fontan survivor
• Diagnose Fontan associated liver disease
• Refer appropriate Fontan patients for catheter-based mechanical and electrical interventions
• Identify the role and the limitations of Fontan conversion surgery
• Identify Fontan patients that may benefit from transplantation or mechanical support
• Describe peri- and post-operative ICU care, the short-, intermediate and long-term orthotopic heart and liver transplant management, challenges and considerations of combined orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT)/orthotopic liver
  transplantation (OLT)

7.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ – maximum