Evaluation of cardiac function during laparoscopic gastrostomy in pediatric patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome using intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography.

Introduction: Patients with single ventricle physiology (SVP)--specifically, hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS)--frequently need long-term enteral access; however, they are at an extremely high operative risk. Nothing has been published on the physiologic impact on single ventricle function during laparoscopy in this patient population. Therefore, we performed intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to study the physiologic effects of laparoscopic surgery in these patients.