The cardiothoracic surgery program at Children’s Hospital New Orleans
is one of the most successful in the entire country. The Heart Center
is a nationally recognized leader in the diagnosis and treatment of patients
with heart conditions. A major contributor to our high success rate is
the long-term monitoring we provide patients after they leave the operating
room. Patients are provided with round-the-clock care from cardiac intensivists,
nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals until they are ready
to return home. In case of an emergency, our transport team is ready 24/7
to transport patients to another facility should the need arise.
Surgical services designed for children
Children’s Hospital has the only specialty pediatric anesthesia team
and dedicated 20-bed Cardiac Intensive Care Unit in Louisiana and the
Gulf South. The Heart Center staff is trained to work with children and
adolescents, helping them feel comfortable and safe in the hospital. We
also provide parents and family members with forthright updates on the
patient’s condition.
The Heart Center typically treats patients with congenital heart conditions,
but also provide services for patients with acquired conditions. We treat
nearly 2,000 children and adults each year and perform more than 450 cardiothoracic
surgeries. Approximately half of these operations are performed on children
who are not ales than one year old.
Conditions we treat include:
Septal defects
Valvular anomalies
Coarctation of the aorta
Interrupted or hypoplastic aortic arch
Tetralogy of Fallot
Transposition of the great arteries
Total anomalous pulmonary venous return
Ebstein’s anomaly
Truncus arteriosus
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) or single ventricle variants (e.g.
tricuspid atresia)
Chest wall deformities including pectus excavatum and carinatum
Diseases involving the lungs, pleura or diaphragm as well as implantation
of pacemakers
Congenital coronary artery abnormalities
ECMO is a life-sustaining treatment, used to support patients with respiratory
distress. It is often used on children after they undergo cardiac surgery
while they recover. Our ECMO program is overseen by a specially-trained
team of respiratory therapists, and is currently the largest and most
successful program of its kind in the region.
Children’s Hospital New Orleans contributes to the Society for Thoracic
Surgery (STS) Congenital Heart Surgery Database. This database allows
for an option to publicly report outcomes, which we have elected to do
for the last several years. STS updates this publicly reporting initiative
once a year; the report includes a cumulative 4 years of data. Get STS
data for Children's Hospital New Orleans here.
