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Indiana University
RSA Social Media Committee Member
For many emergency physicians, the scariest patient to come through the doors is the crashing neonate. But make that same neonate a child with congenital heart disease (CHD) and you have a recipe for the so-called, “Code Brown.” One of the most unstable types of CHD is Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a ductal dependent lesion that can be stabilized in the first few weeks of life with intravenous prostaglandins while awaiting surgical management. All patients with HLHS or single ventricle physiology, will require a stage 1 palliative surgery which is usually the Norwood procedure. Norwood patients are, arguably, the sickest of all CHD kids and are the most vulnerable to sudden death, leading many to live by the mantra, “Never trust a Norwood.”
