UCLA's Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery Program provides leading-edge care for children with congenital heart disease.
UCLA physicians and research scientists are among those developing new therapies and expanding the boundaries of care. The extensive experience accrued by surgeons and staff help produce results that only a very few elite programs can match.
Dedicated pediatric cardiac surgeons perform more than 350 congenital heart surgeries each year, half of those on children in their first month of life. The full range of cardiothoracic procedures is performed from the most straightforward to the most complex. These operations include the Norwood procedure for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, the Arterial Switch for transposition of the great arteries, and the Ross procedure.
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center allows the optimal setting for mother and child when a fetus is diagnosed in utero with congenital heart disease. A multidisciplinary team of surgeons, cardiologists, intensive care doctors, nurse practitioners and social workers see patients daily. We prepare the entire family for what to expect before, during and after surgery by giving them information, support and resources.
UCLA, a regional referral center in the southwestern United States for pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, has the largest pediatric heart-transplant program in the country. UCLA surgeons perform more than 25 pediatric heart transplants per year, among a total of several hundred pediatric heart operations. Because it is such a busy transplant center, UCLA is also very active in mechanical support for pediatric patients who may be candidates for heart transplantation. This includes ECMO (extracorporeal mechanical oxygenation) and ventricular assist devices.
The division also includes a very active Adult Congenital Heart Surgery Program. Serving a growing population of adult patients who have already undergone operations in childhood for congenital heart conditions, the program offers surgical procedures to improve the function of prior repairs. Program surgeons also treat congenital conditions in adults who have not had previous surgical treatment.
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