2025 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Fontan Patients in Korea: A Consensus Statement With Graded Recommendations by the Committee for Clinical Practice Guidelines on Fontan Patients

Over the past 4 decades, significant advances in pediatric cardiology in Korea have led to marked improvements in the prognosis of patients with complex congenital heart diseases, including single ventricle physiology. The number of patients reaching adulthood has steadily increased. In particular, there is a growing need for clinical practice guidelines that reflect the latest medical trends for the long-term management of Fontan circulation patients. Accordingly, a Korean Fontan cohort was established in 2019, and a guideline development committee was formed in 2023 to publish the first Korean clinical practice guidelines for Fontan patients. Nineteen working committee members discussed and reviewed the methodology and content with expert consultation, incorporating both international guidelines and Korean-specific data. Through multiple rounds of review and discussion between authors and editors, the content was finalized, including evaluations of clinical guidelines from the United States, Europe, and Australia. The guidelines also incorporate survey data from members of the Korean Pediatric Cardiology Society and results from meta-analyses, and propose outpatient follow-up schedules tailored to the Korean clinical context. The finalized guidelines underwent rigorous review by leading national experts to enhance their completeness and applicability.