Hypoplastic left heart syndrome — antenatal planning structured clinical encounter

Station brief (candidate)

You are the paediatric registrar at the antenatal multidisciplinary meeting. Mei is 34 years old at 22 weeks gestation. The fetal echocardiogram confirms hypoplastic left heart syndrome with a normal karyotype and no other anomalies. She lives three hours from the nearest cardiac centre and asks what will happen when the baby is born and whether surgery will be needed. She has two young children and limited leave from work. You have 12 minutes with the patient and 5 minutes for examiner discussion. ^{[1] [2]}