Adult Congenital Heart Disease
Broadway Actor Finds Support through the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center at Mount Sinai
Born with a heart condition called truncus arteriosus led Alex to the adult congenital heart disease experts at Mount Sinai
Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center
Hear how the Center provides comprehensive care for adults with Congenital Heart Disease, regardless of age or severity of illness.
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect. It affects nearly 1 in every 100 newborns. Unlike heart disease that develops later in life, CHD is present at birth and requires lifelong specialized care. Because congenital heart defects can affect your health at every stage of life, it’s important to understand your condition and partner with specialists who know its unique challenges.
The Mount Sinai Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Center in New York City provides comprehensive medical and surgical care for adolescents and adults with congenital heart disease, ranging from simple defects to the most complex cases. Our board-certified Adult Congenital Heart Disease specialists have expertise in:
- Echocardiography and advanced cardiac imaging
- Diagnostic and Interventional cardiac catheterization
- Heart rhythm disorders (electrophysiology and device management)
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Advanced heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, cardiac transplantation
- Complex congenital cardiac surgery
Services We Provide
We see patients at The Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Children’s Heart Center at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. We provide a variety of services through the Mount Sinai Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center. Our services include:
Diagnosis and imaging
- Multimodality congenital cardiac imaging
- Cardiopulmonary exercise testing
Procedures and surgery
- Complex adult congenital cardiac surgery including valvular repair
- Diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterization, including transcatheter valve therapies
- Electrophysiology, pacing and complex arrhythmia management
- Advanced heart failure and mechanical circulatory support
- Cardiac and/or multi-organ transplantation
Specialty clinics and conditions
- Comprehensive evaluation and management for pulmonary hypertension
- Cardiovascular genetics
- Single Ventricle Fontan clinic
- Gastroenterology, hepatology and liver transplantation
- Reproductive health, fertility management and high-risk ACHD pregnancy
- Neurocognitive assessment and long-term care
- Pulmonary and sleep medicine
- Transition of care for adolescents with congenital heart disease
Single Ventricle Fontan Program
Fontan patients face unique long-term challenges involving the heart, liver, lymphatic system, exercise capacity, and overall quality of life.
Mount Sinai’s Single Ventricle Fontan Clinic offers a dedicated survivorship program for adolescents and adults living with Fontan circulation. We provide comprehensive evaluations, ongoing monitoring, and lifelong care for patients with complex single ventricle heart disease following Fontan palliation.
Our program is one of few in the country dedicated to the care of adult patients with Fontan circulation and is among the most comprehensive in New York State. At a single coordinated visit, you'll see ACHD specialists, hepatologists, social workers, mental health counselors, and registered dietitians working together on your care.
We provide state-of-the-art surveillance and treatment strategies, including:
- Multimodality congenital cardiac imaging (echo, CT, CMR)
- Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET)
- Diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterization
- Comprehensive screening for Fontan-associated liver disease (FALD)
You’ll also have access to the latest medical, catheter-based, and surgical therapies, including care from congenital heart surgeons who specialize in the treatment of CHD in both children and adults.
Pulmonary Hypertension and Eisenmenger Syndrome
Some adults with congenital heart disease age develop pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary hypertension is a condition in which the blood vessels in the lungs narrow or stiffen, making it harder for the heart to pump blood through the lungs.
Less commonly, CHD patients may develop Eisenmenger syndrome. This happens when long-term abnormal blood flow from a congenital heart defect damages the lungs’ blood vessels, eventually reversing the direction blood flows through the heart. We work closely with the Mount Sinai Pulmonary Hypertension Program to provide specialized care for both conditions. Our team offers advanced diagnostic testing, including:
- Cardiovascular imaging
- Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET)
- V/Q scanning
- Pulmonary function testing
- Six-minute walk test
- Right heart catheterization with vasoreactivity testing
We build your treatment plan around your needs. Options may include oral, inhaled, intravenous, or subcutaneous therapies, plus access to clinical research studies when appropriate.
Reproductive Health, Fertility Management, and High-Risk ACHD Pregnancy
Most women with congenital heart disease can have successful pregnancies and healthy babies with the right planning and care.
Pregnancy places extra demands on your heart, so we encourage women to meet with our team before conception whenever possible. We’ll assess your risk and build a care plan that fits your needs.
Our Cardio-Obstetrics High Risk Pregnancy Clinic brings ACHD specialists, maternal-fetal medicine physicians, and obstetric anesthesiologists together in one coordinated clinic visit to provide comprehensive care throughout every stage of pregnancy, including preconception counseling, pregnancy management, delivery planning, and postpartum follow-up. This lets us build your pregnancy and delivery plan as a team—a model offered in only a few places in the Northeast.
Neurocognitive Care
Children born with congenital heart disease sometimes experience periods when the brain doesn’t get enough blood flow or oxygen. Multiple surgeries, hospital stays, genetic conditions, and other complex medical factors can also affect brain development.
As a result, some patients may experience neurocognitive challenges that can affect learning, memory, attention, executive function, language, motor skills, employment, independence, and overall quality of life. At the Mount Sinai ACHD Center, we provide thorough neurocognitive assessments and connect you with the educational, vocational, behavioral, and psychological support you need to thrive at every age.
Transition of Care
Moving from pediatric to adult care is a major milestone for adolescents with congenital heart disease. Many CHD patients are successfully treated in childhood, but most need lifelong monitoring and may develop new heart issues as they age.
We begin working with patients as young as 15, helping them gradually shift to adult-centered care while they continue seeing their pediatric cardiologist. Through one-on-one education, dedicated transition visits, and written materials, we help you understand your diagnosis, medications, procedures, and exercise guidelines.
Transition is a gradual process, and it goes beyond medical knowledge. As young adults gain independence, they also take on more responsibility: scheduling appointments, managing medications, understanding insurance, and making healthcare decisions. Our team works with patients and families to ensure a smooth transition while maintaining continuity of care. For patients with developmental disabilities or those requiring additional support, we develop individualized plans.
Complex Transcatheter Cardiac Interventions
Our team offers the full range of advanced transcatheter therapies for adolescents and adults with congenital heart disease, including:
- ASD, PFO, VSD, PDA and Fontan fenestration closure
- Transcatheter pulmonary, aortic, mitral, and tricuspid valve replacement and repair
- Stent placement for coarctation and branch pulmonary artery stenosis
- Baffle and conduit interventions
- Transcatheter management of Fontan and atrial switch complications
- Advanced hemodynamic assessment of complex congenital heart disease.
Working in state-of-the-art catheterization laboratories alongside congenital cardiac surgeons, electrophysiologists, imaging specialists, and heart failure experts, we build a treatment plan around your specific condition. Whenever possible, we offer less invasive alternatives to surgery—without compromising care for even the most complex cases.
Complex Congenital Cardiac Surgery, Valvular Repair and Cardiac Transplantation
We offer the full range of surgical care for adolescents and adults with congenital heart disease, from routine reoperations to the most complex reconstructions.
Your care team may include ACHD specialists, congenital cardiac surgeons, heart failure and transplant physicians, cardiac anesthesiologists, imaging experts, and intensivists—all working together on your treatment plan. Through our partnership with the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and Mount Sinai Children's Heart Center, we provide seamless care whether your condition is simple, moderate, or highly complex.
Our expertise includes congenital valve surgery, Fontan and single ventricle surgery, right ventricular outflow tract and conduit reconstruction, aortic surgery, arrhythmia surgery, mechanical circulatory support, and heart transplantation. For advanced valve care, we partner with the nationally recognized Mount Sinai Valve Center for complex aortic, mitral, tricuspid, and pulmonary valve repair and replacement.
By combining congenital heart expertise with world-class surgical and structural heart programs, we offer the most advanced surgical, hybrid, and transcatheter treatment options available for adults living with congenital heart disease.