Apollo Children’s Hospitals Achieves World’s First Milestone of 50 Percutaneous Fontan Procedures, Advancing Minimally Invasive Care for Children with congenital heart diseases
Apollo Children’s Hospitals Achieves World’s First Milestone of 50 Percutaneous Fontan Procedures, Advancing Minimally Invasive Care for Children with congenital heart diseases Catheter-based Fontan pathway provides alternative to traditional open-heart surgery for selected children with single-ventricle heart disease Chennai, 6 October 2026: Apollo Children’s Hospitals, Chennai announced a world-first milestone in performing 50 percutaneous Fontan procedures without prior surgical preparation. The milestone reflects increasing clinical experience with a catheter-based approach that provides an alternative to conventional open-heart Fontan surgery in carefully selected children with complex single-ventricle heart disease. Some children are born with complex heart defects in which only one ventricle can effectively support circulation. The Fontan procedure is the final stage of treatment for many of these children, redirecting blood returning from the lower-half of the body directly to ...