Caring for children of all ages, the Mount Sinai Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery Program has achieved outstanding results with the most intricate and challenging problems, such as transposition of the great vessels, single ventricle, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and other anomalies requiring complex and/or staged reconstructive surgery. The program incorporates the latest techniques into its routine surgical armamentarium, including minimal surgical incisions for most open-heart surgical cases, beating-heart bypass to eliminate the adverse effects of stopping the heart, and blood conservation to minimize or avoid blood transfusion.

One of only two active pediatric heart transplant centers in the state of New York, the program also provides support for very sick hearts in infants and older children, using Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenators (ECMO) or Ventricular Assist Devices (VAD).

The comprehensive care extended to the patient and family is supported by the collaborative efforts of an outstanding and dedicated multidisciplinary team. Superb post-operative care is provided in New York State’s only stand-alone Pediatric Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit, under the direction of dedicated pediatric cardiologists, intensivists, and surgeons.

Equipped with state-of-the-art digital biplane imaging, the Interventional Catheterization Program has a team of pediatric cardiologists, anesthesiologists, nurses, and technicians dedicated to the care of patients with congenital heart disease.

The program offers expertise in:

• Device closure
   o Atrial septal defects
   o Patent ductus arteriosuss
   o Aorto-pulmonary collateral vessels
   o Other abnormal cardiac and vascular communications 
  
• Balloon procedures
   o Valvuloplasty
   o Aortic and pulmonary artery angioplasty
   o Atrial septal defect creation
   o Placement of intravascular stents
  
• Innovative catheter-based procedures
   o Ventricular septal defect closure
   o Prosthetic paravalvar leak closure
   o Pericardial-pleural shunts

The Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Program offers a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic services for simple and complex pediatric arrhythmias.

• Diagnostic services
   o Electrocardiograms
   o Transtelephonic arrhythmia detection
   o Event recorder monitoring
   o Invasive study techniques
• Therapeutic Services
   o Pacemaker and internal defibrillator implantation
   o Ablation therapy for supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias

The Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia team has special expertise in treating rhythm problems in children with complex congenital heart disease. Advanced tools such as three-dimensional catheter mapping are used to achieve unparalleled success in the treatment of these and other difficult rhythm problems.

Mount Sinai Children’s Heart Center specialists evaluate and treat a full range of cardiac conditions, including:

• Heart murmurs
• Congenital heart defects
• Acquired pediatric heart problems
• Kawasaki disease
• Rheumatic fever
• Heart rhythm disorders
• Chest pain
• Syncope
• Cardiomyopathies

Patients may be referred for complete diagnostic services in our Echocardiography Laboratory, Exercise Physiology Laboratory, and Cardiac MRI Program.

The Mount Sinai Pediatric Echocardiography Laboratory is staffed by a team of specialists and is equipped with advanced technology that is used to obtain detailed information about the structure and function of the heart.

The laboratory offers all types of modern cardiac ultrasound, including:

• Color flow Doppler
• Tissue velocity imaging 
• Transesophageal echocardiography 
• Fetal echocardiography

Specially trained ultrasound technologists, registered in pediatric echocardiography, perform the studies. A board-certified pediatric cardiologist who specializes in echocardiography supervises and interprets all pediatric studies the same day. The laboratory maintains a selection of children's videos to entertain the patients during their echocardiogram. For children too young to cooperate, a dedicated nurse provides safe sedation to ensure a high-quality examination. In general, a complete echocardiogram takes about 45 minutes to perform.

Exercise stress testing, the noninvasive tool used to identify functional limits and heart problems, involves increasing the resistance on a stationary bicycle while the patient is exercising. The experts in Mount Sinai's specially equipped, state-of-the art laboratory monitor changes in the patient's heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, and pulse oximetry to assess the effect of increasing load on the heart.

The Exercise Laboratory evaluates:

• Cardiac and pulmonary functional capacity
• Symptoms and activity-related problems (fainting, chest pain, arrhythmias, etc)
• Aerobic capacity and musculoskeletal conditioning
• Effect of medication on exercise performance 
• Exercised-induced asthma

The Fetal Heart Program is based on a team approach for the screening, diagnosis, and care of fetal heart disorders. When a family is faced with the possibility of having a baby with a heart problem, it helps to have a team of caring professionals to guide them through the process of proper diagnosis and management of their child's condition. Ideally, this process begins before the child is born. The Fetal Heart Program team is made up of doctors, nurses, social workers, and other professionals who are dedicated and uniquely qualified to provide this specialized care.

Staffed by a multidisciplinary team of pediatric and adult cardiologists, geneticists, and genetic counselors, the Cardiovascular Genetics Program is dedicated to preventing, diagnosing, and treating genetic-based cardiovascular diseases, such as:

• Noonan syndrome
• Marfan syndrome
• Other aortic diseases
• Velocardiofacial syndrome
• Cardiomyopathies

From pre-conception counseling and fetal echocardiography to treatment of inherited disorders, these specialists work with patients, families, and referring physicians to provide comprehensive services

The Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) service offers state-of-the-art MR scanners, the latest in cardiac imaging software, and support services (including pediatric anesthesia) that facilitate quality service to children of all ages, from infants to young adults. The service is a combined effort of the Department of Radiology and the Division of Pediatric Cardiology.

Cardiac MRI evaluates:

• Ventricular size and function
• Quantification of valvar regurgitation
• Congenital heart defects, especially
   o Aortic anomalies
   o Vascular anomalies
   o Aorto-pulmonary collaterals

The Pediatric Heart Transplant Program evaluates potential candidates for transplantation, performs the heart transplantation procedure, and manages the care of children who receive transplanted hearts. Experts from Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery provide all aspects of this very specialized care for patients with:

• Cardiomyopathies
• Congestive heart failure
• Conventionally uncorrectable congenital heart disease

This program is staffed with a multidisciplinary team of consultants and health care professionals.