Fontan Failure 

Fortunately, like with other types of CHD, cardiologists and cardiac surgeons have discovered ways to allow you to survive and thrive throughout childhood with only one ventricle. If you were born with only one ventricle, you likely went through several heart surgeries early in your life and may now have a Fontan circulation. The Fontan circulation is developed when a pediatric cardiac surgeon creates a pathway for blood to return to your lungs for oxygen directly, without circulating through a ventricle. This frees up the one ventricle you have to do the hard work of pumping your blood out to your body. While the Fontan circulation can be very successful, in some cases, the one ventricle will not be able to do all the work of two ventricles and you may experience heart failure. If you have a Fontan circulation and are starting to experience heart failure, you might feel like it’s hard to catch your breath or like your heart is beating in a weird rhythm. Your skin may be more blue-tinted than usual, or you may have swelling in certain areas of your body. Occasionally, because pediatric cardiac surgeons had to make some unnatural changes in your body to create the Fontan circulation, you may develop chronic liver disease, renal insufficiency/failure, and/or problems with your intestines leading to malnutrition.