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Welcome to the Children's Heart Institute of The Medical College of Virginia Hospital
at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The Children's Heart Institute was conceived in 1995, bringing
together a wide variety of pediatric specialists and caregivers dedicated to excellence
in the care of infants and children with cardiovascular disease.
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Abigail - Coarctation of aorta
(with Dr. Embrey)
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The Institute closely integrates all resources needed for diagnosis
and treatment of the entire spectrum of congenital heart disease. A state-of the-art
program in Fetal
Echocardiography promotes prenatal detection of heart
defects, supports families through often difficult times, in making important decisions,
and helps parents prepare for their new child with heart disease. In addition to
busy programs in lipid disorders, hypertension and electrophysiology, as well as
the second oldest Pediatric Heart Transplantation
program in the country, the Children's Heart Institute at MCV has an active Interventional
Cardiac Catheterization laboratory which is pioneering
the non-surgical treatment of many congenital heart defects, such as valvular pulmonary
stenosis, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and coarctation of the aorta.
Surgery to correct congenital heart defects is a major facet of
the Children's Heart Institute. From the beginning, a focus on outcomes of the highest
quality for our patients and their families has fostered many innovations in pediatric
cardiac surgery at MCV, including Epidural Anesthesia, early extubation
following surgery, critical pathways and use of inhaled modulators of pulmonary blood
flow (CO2 and nitric oxide). These efforts have resulted in unparalleled
brief Hospital
Stays for our patients, and a risk-adjusted Surgical
Mortality among the very lowest in the nation,
despite operating upon the highest case-complexity mix in the region.
The Children's Heart Institute cares for many infants and children
with the most complex heart defects, with nearly a third of our patients having some
form of single ventricle physiology, including many with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Nonetheless, we emphasize personalized care which encompasses the entire family of
the child with congenital heart disease, and we enjoy close relationships with many
of our current and former patients.
It is our intent that this website provide an introduction to
the Children's Heart Institute of The Medical College of Virginia Hospital. We encourage your comments, and hope that you will contact us if we may
be of service to you in any way.
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