The walter sisulu paediatric cardiac centre for Africa: proceedings of the march 2011 symposium.

The 2011 symposium opened with a consideration of the challenges in the management of children undergoing the Fontan operation. Management options for patients with congenitally corrected transposition were then discussed, using several illustrative case examples and a review of the results from the Texas Children's Hospital. There was a session dedicated to borderline hypoplastic left heart syndrome, concluding with a review of the results of the Single Ventricle Reconstruction (SVR) Trial in North America. Results of pediatric mechanical circulatory support were considered in the context of surgery for anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery after a more general overview of pediatric applications of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and ventricular assist devices. Problems of monitoring in the intensive care unit, quality assurance, feeding algorithms for children, and morbidity associated with mechanical ventilation occupied most of the second day's sessions. Results of the arterial switch operation for transposition, issues related to neonatal brain protection during open cardiac procedures, and, finally, training paradigms for congenital heart surgeons concluded the symposium's talks.