If your child needs heart surgery, The CHOC Heart Institute offers the latest in cardiac surgical techniques to repair congenital heart defects in newborns to adolescents. Our prenatal cardiodiagnostic services provide fetal echocardiography to identify congenital heart lesions before birth. Although our highly skilled surgical team operates on pediatric patients of all ages, early definitive repair is the preferred approach in many instances.

We have performed open heart surgery in premature infants weighing as little as 1.4 kg. Our pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons are an integral part of our multidisciplinary team of specialists, collaborating closely with the rest of our heart team experts to ensure optimal outcomes for our surgical patients.

Once the patient is ready to go home, our Cardiac Nurse Practitioner will coordinate discharge planning and  provide education about what to expect during recuperation at home.

Cardiovascular Intensive Care
At the CHOC Heart Institute, we recognize that when your child is ill and needs hospitalization, you and your entire family are affected. As a family centered care environment, we encourage patient family and friends to participate in the treatment of each patient. We invite parents to participate in daily multidisciplinary team rounds and patient case conferences.

In CHOC’s recently opened 12 bed Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, each patient has a spacious single room with sleeping accommodations so a parent may spend the night in their child’s room. All of the CVICU rooms are outfitted with leading-edge technology equal to the demands of monitoring children after complex operations. This technology includes use of Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS) to calculate oxygen saturation in the heart and brain, as well as the use of rapid-assessment bedside ultrasound to instantly calculate pulmonary artery pressures and ejection fraction – two key indicators of real-time cardiac function. The unit includes two fully-equipped procedure rooms that enable our specialists to perform emergency life-saving procedures on children too unstable to be transported out of the unit.

Supportive Environment
At the CHOC Heart Institute, we recognize that when your child is ill and needs hospitalization, you and your entire family are affected. As a family centered care environment, we encourage patient family and friends to participate in the treatment of each patient. We invite parents to participate in daily multidisciplinary team rounds and patient case conferences.

In CHOC’s recently opened 12 bed Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, each patient has a spacious single room with sleeping accommodations so a parent may spend the night in their child’s room. All of the CVICU rooms are outfitted with leading-edge technology equal to the demands of monitoring children after complex operations. This technology includes use of Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS) to calculate oxygen saturation in the heart and brain, as well as the use of rapid-assessment bedside ultrasound to instantly calculate pulmonary artery pressures and ejection fraction – two key indicators of real-time cardiac function. The unit includes two fully-equipped procedure rooms that enable our specialists to perform emergency life-saving procedures on children too unstable to be transported out of the unit.

The CHOC Heart Institute also believes in allowing a child to be a child and creating a sense of normalcy through play, discovery and creativity. We offer the most comprehensive child-life and family support programs in the region and are committed to promoting the fullest developmental potential of each child.
• Parent Support Groups
• Early Developmental Assessment Program
• Rehabilitation Services
• Complementary/Alternative Medicine Services
• Psychosocial Support

In addition, while their child is in the hospital, the family has access to the Ronald McDonald Room, adjacent to the CVICU. Run by volunteers from the Ronald McDonald House, parents have access to a business center, a stocked kitchen and one of three private sleeping rooms.