With one of the largest and most experienced pediatric general surgery programs in the world, we care for a broad range of conditions, from common illnesses that require routine procedures to rare conditions that demand highly complex fetal surgeries. Learn more about the conditions we treat and the services we provide below.
Conditions
Aortic stenosis occurs when the large blood vessel that takes oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body (the aorta) is narrow at the place where the aorta leaves the heart. This makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood to the body and can result in a weak heart muscle or poor blood flow.
The atria are two top chambers of the heart. One holds blood that has oxygen, and one holds blood that needs oxygen. In ASD, there is an abnormal gap between these two chambers. As a result, the mixed blood that goes out to the body does not carry the right amount of oxygen.
AVSD occurs when blood is able to slide freely between the upper and lower chambers of the heart, as well as the right and left sides of the heart.
CoA occurs when the large blood vessel that takes oxygenated blood from the heart to the body (the aorta) is narrow where it curves away from the heart towards the body. This makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood to the body and can result in a weak heart muscle or poor blood flow.
PDA occurs when there is an opening directly between the blood vessel that takes blood to the lungs (pulmonary artery) and the blood vessel that takes blood to the body (the aorta). This results in mixing of oxygen-rich blood with oxygen-poor blood and a lower concentration of oxygen delivered to the body.
At the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program, we have the expertise needed to help you understand how your specific congenital heart disease may be affected by pregnancy and what options are available to you as you plan for a family.
A single ventricle defect occurs when only one of the two large chambers at the base of the heart has developed enough to pump blood effectively.
Babies born with ToF have four specific changes to normal heart anatomy, all of which work together to prevent oxygen-rich blood from flowing out to the body. The four changes are: ventricular septal defect, pulmonary stenosis, an overly muscular right ventricle and an aorta (the blood vessel that takes oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body) that connects to the heart at the location of the ventricular septal defect.
In transposition of the great arteries, instead of flowing from the lungs to the body, blood gets caught in limited loops. Oxygen-rich blood from the lungs goes back to the lungs and oxygen-poor blood from the body returns to the body. These babies survive due to other heart defects, such as atrial septal defect or ventricular septal defect, that allow blood from each separate loop to mix, but they will need surgical repair early in life.
Tricuspid atresia occurs when the usual opening between the upper and lower chambers of the right heart is replaced with a wall of tissue. As a result, the oxygen-poor blood returning from the body is unable to get to the lungs to receive oxygen and then move out to the body.
The ventricles are two bottom chambers of the heart. One holds blood that has oxygen, and one holds blood that needs oxygen. In ventricular septal defect, there is an abnormal gap between these two chambers. As a result, the mixed blood that goes out to the body does not carry the right amount of oxygen.
