Apollo Children’s Hospitals Performs World’s First 50 Percutaneous Fontan Procedures for Children with Congenital Heart Disease
Apollo Children’s Hospitals, Chennai has achieved a world-first milestone by completing 50 percutaneous Fontan procedures without prior surgical preparation, offering a catheter-based alternative to traditional open-heart Fontan surgery for carefully selected children with complex single-ventricle congenital heart disease.
The Fontan procedure is the final stage of treatment for many children born with heart conditions where only one ventricle can effectively support circulation. Apollo’s Paediatric Cardiology and Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery teams have developed and refined a minimally invasive approach that uses catheters, wires and stents through the blood vessels to complete the Fontan pathway without another major open-heart operation.
The catheter-based procedure is considered only after detailed assessment of cardiac anatomy and haemodynamics, including pulmonary artery anatomy and pressures, ventricular function and venous pathways. Evaluation may involve echocardiography, CT imaging and cardiac catheterisation. While the approach may reduce the burden of another major surgery for suitable patients, conventional surgery remains the preferred option for some children.
Dr. C.S. Muthukumaran, Senior Consultant and Head of Paediatric Cardiology at Apollo Children’s Hospitals, highlighted the potential of the technique to reduce the need for another major open-heart procedure in appropriately selected children. Dr. Neville A. G. Solomon, Director of Paediatric Cardiothoracic Services, emphasised that multidisciplinary evaluation is essential in determining whether a catheter-based Fontan or surgical approach is best for each child.
Apollo Children’s Hospitals has performed more than 14,000 catheter-based cardiac interventions in children, demonstrating extensive experience in complex paediatric cardiac care. The 50-procedure milestone reflects growing clinical experience with percutaneous Fontan treatment, while long-term comparative studies are still needed to assess outcomes against conventional surgical Fontan procedures.
The technique has evolved through clinical experience and peer-reviewed research, with the team’s work published in Progress in Pediatric Cardiology in 2023 and JACC: Case Reports in 2024, followed by further refinement reported in 2025.
The milestone highlights the growing role of minimally invasive, catheter-based cardiac interventions in paediatric congenital heart disease and reinforces the importance of careful patient selection, multidisciplinary decision-making and long-term follow-up.
Keywords: Apollo Children’s Hospitals Chennai, percutaneous Fontan, Fontan procedure, single-ventricle heart disease, congenital heart disease in children, paediatric cardiology, minimally invasive heart surgery, catheter-based cardiac intervention, paediatric heart treatment, congenital heart surgery, Apollo Hospitals Chennai