Why Choose Us for Single Ventricle Heart Care

For nearly four decades, CHOP has been a pioneer in treating children with single ventricle heart disease. 

For nearly four decades, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has been a pioneer in treating children with single ventricle heart disease. We've performed more than 1,700 Fontan procedures to reconstruct the hearts of children born with only a single pumping heart chamber. Our Single Ventricle Survivorship Clinic, established in 2011, has treated more than 500 patients in our first-of-its-kind clinic that is a model for Fontan-related care throughout the world.

The Fontan Rehabilitation, Wellness, Activity and Resilience Development (FORWARD) Program builds upon our experience and expertise by creating a care team that specializes in single ventricle/Fontan care. Patients treated by the FORWARD Program will not only see specialists from cardiology, gastroenterology, nephrology, lymphology, hematology and others, but will also see individual providers who have expertise in single ventricle/Fontan care and how it may impact an individual over the lifespan.

I knew in my heart that CHOP was where we would be taking our child for continued care.

Comprehensive, innovative care

As one of the largest Cardiac Centers in the United States, we have compiled significant clinical experience, making us more familiar with all aspects, clinical manifestations and variations of single ventricle/Fontan care, and therefore, best able to help manage your child's condition. We offer comprehensive coordination of world-class services for patients born with single ventricle heart defects — from fetal diagnosis and delivery in our Fetal Heart Program, through adulthood in our Philadelphia Adult Congenital Heart Center.

In additional to meeting patients' clinical needs, CHOP offers ancillary services to improve the general well-being and quality of life for our patients — all in one place, at one time, and in coordination with one another. These ancillary services include: social work, nutrition, exercise and psychology, and are provided by individuals dedicated to working with patients who have single ventricle defects treated with the Fontan procedure.

In addition to our expertise at CHOP, members of our team are considered national and international specialists in treating this patient population — ensuring that the care you receive here is at the forefront of what’s happening anywhere in the world. Our experts are often called upon to train others interested in this growing specialty, lecture around the world, and lead research and investigational efforts to develop evidence-based practices to improve care.

We pride ourselves on working closely with your child's primary care team and the healthcare providers who have cared for your child since birth. Using this approach, patients come to CHOP for every few years for care, testing and evaluation, and we work closely with your child's local cardiologist, primary care physician and other providers to ensure a continuity of care.

Our daughter wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for the phenomenal care she received from the amazingly caring and compassionate staff at CHOP. We will be forever indebted to them for this amazing gift they have given us.