Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiovascular Surgery at All Children's Hospital

All Children's Hospital has been providing pediatric cardiology services for children with congenital heart disease since 1977. All Children's continues our commitment to treatment and research in our state-of-the-art Pediatric Heart Center, located in our new hospital is St. Petersburg, Florida.
 
The Pediatric Heart Center includes a 22-bed cardiovascular intensive care unit, 2 cardiac operating rooms, 2 cardiac catheterization labs with the ability to perform hybrid procedures, and electrophysiology.

We also offer many services to support your family's needs, whether it's a place to sleep, a support group or social services.

Your Visit

The Pediatric Cardiology staff at All Children's Hospital believes every child is entitled to family-centered care delivered by a collaborative team of experts.

Our team includes registered nurses, cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, anesthesiologists, respiratory therapists, social workers, clinical dietitians and others, who develop individual care plans to meet patients' medical and emotional needs, as well as their family's needs for information, support and assistance. To help families prepare for coming to All Children's, we created our For Patients and Families section that contains information about the hospital, the services available for your family, and how to help your child prepare for their visit to the hospital.

We know that family is the most important source of emotional support and comfort for children. Therefore, we acknowledge family members as a vital component of each child's health care team. Families are always welcome on the patient care unit and are encouraged to comfort and soothe their children. When away from the units, family members may call any time to speak with their child's nurse.

Features of Pediatric Cardiology at the All Children's Hospital

We have made sure that our Pediatric Heart Center provides the best care by having the best staff, facility, technology and techniques, and programs to address the needs of the community:

Cardiac Surgery Program
The pediatric heart surgery program at All Children's is one of the busiest pediatric cardiac surgery programs in Florida. Our patients range in age from newborn to adult. Comprehensive surgical services include complex neonatal cardiac surgery, the use of minimally invasive and video-assisted pediatric heart surgery techniques, and cardiac transplantation.

Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU)
Pediatric heart surgery patients recover in our 22-bed Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit with the support of a multidisciplinary team of cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, critical care specialists, respiratory therapists and other pediatric experts.

Cardiomyopathy Program
Cardiomyopathy is a condition in which there is an abnormality in the heart muscle. Although there are several different kinds of cardiomyopathy, the two most common types are Dilated Cardiomyopathy, in which the heart may function poorly, and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, in which the heart muscle is abnormally thick. Our Cardiomyopathy & Heart Failure Program provides advanced diagnostic and therapeutic options for infants, children and adolescents diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.

Heart Failure / Heart Transplant Program
For some children and teens with heart disease, even the most aggressive treatment with medication or conventional cardiac surgery is not enough to restore health and maintain a good quality of life. These patients may be candidates for heart transplantation. Our neonatal and pediatric cardiac transplantation team performed its first transplant in 1995 and has been recognized as one of the most successful in the nation.

Pulmonary Hypertension Program
Pulmonary hypertension can affect both children with congenital heart defects and children without congenital heart disease. Ongoing research has led to improved understanding and management of pulmonary hypertension. At All Children's, we provide both diagnostic and treatment options for this complex condition.

Electrophysiology Program
Children with irregular, racing, or abnormally slow heart rates may have a cardiac arrhythmia, a condition in which the heart's electrical conduction system is disrupted. Although most pediatric arrhythmias are not life threatening, some patients will need a pacemaker or implanted cardiac defibrillator. Our All Children's Electrophysiology Program provides care to children who have cardiac arrhythmia.

Interventional Catheterization Program
Our pediatric cardiologists perform diagnostic cardiac catheterization procedures to observe the heart in action as well as interventional cardiac catheterization as a method for repairing the heart. Interventional catheterization now can accomplish many repairs that used to require surgical correction. Our All Children's pediatric cardiologists perform diagnostic, interventional and hybrid catheterization procedures on a daily basis in our two state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization suites.

Perinatal Program
Our Perinatal Program consists of a multi-disciplinary team specializing in the detection, comprehensive assessment, and management of heart disease prior to birth. Our team includes physicians from pediatric cardiology, obstetrics, neonatology, genetics, and cardiothoracic surgery, as well as our clinical program coordinator. In addition, the team also includes echocardiography technicians, genetic counselors, case managers, chaplain services, and social workers to address the medical, psychological, and spiritual needs of patients and their families.

More Programs & Services

Cardiac Anesthesia
Cardiac anesthesiologists at All Children's Hospital handle anesthesia and pain management for some of the most complex surgical cases. While surgeons focus their complete attention on the demanding task of repairing a defective heart, anesthesiologists carry out a series of behind-the-scene tasks that greatly affect both the safety and success of the surgery.

Cardiology Outpatient Services
Our All Children's Hospital cardiologists provide an extensive range of evaluation services for patients with heart disease. In addition to treating simple and complex congenital heart defects, our cardiologists manage the medical care of pediatric heart transplant patients. The most common reasons children are referred to All Children's Cardiology Outpatient Clinics are heart murmurs, palpitations, fainting and chest pain.

Adult Congenital Heart Service
More than 1 million adults in the United States live with congenital heart defects. Thanks to advances in medical and surgical care, children with congenital heart defects are surviving into adulthood — and thriving. However these chronic conditions can put patients at risk over time. Our Adult Congenital Heart Service provides both outpatient and inpatient care to monitor and protect their health.

Preventive Cardiology Clinic
Preventative Cardiology is a key part of adult cardiology, focusing on reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke later in life. Preventative cardiology is a growing area of pediatric cardiology and is an important service for children who may already have cholesterol and blood pressure problems. Our All Children’s Preventative Cardiology Clinic provides expertise in identifying at risk children and offers options for dietary, activity and medical management.

Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging
Our Department of Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging specializes in both pediatric echocardiography (2-dimensional and 3-dimensional) as well as fetal echocardiography. We also offer Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Cardiac Computed Tomography (CT). For some patients, cardiac MRI can be used to diagnose a heart problem without the need for a cardiac catheterization procedure. Cardiac MRI is available at All Children’s Outpatient Care, Tampa (on Bruce B. Downs Blvd.) in addition to our main campus.

Cardiovascular Genetics
The Cardiovascular Genetics Clinic at All Children's Hospital provides clinical care, information and resources for individuals and families with cardiovascular and genetic conditions. Services include genetic evaluation, syndrome diagnosis, management of malformation syndromes, genetic testing and genetic counseling.

Continuing Medical Education (CME) Opportunities

All Children's Hospital is dedicated to providing the best healthcare for children and their families. As part of that mission, we recognize the importance clinical innovation and research, and partnering with members of the healthcare community to provide continuing education and other resources to physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. The All Children's Cardiology Services unit partners with the All Children's Hospital CME Department on two major conferences each year:

• Bi-annual Symposium on Advances in Perinatal Cardiology
• Annual International Symposium on Congenital Heart Disease

Learn more about these conferences at allkids.org/conferences.