Right Ventricular (RV) Failure Program

The Right Ventricular (RV) Failure Program is a dedicated, multidisciplinary program within Texas Children’s Heart Center. The program’s goal is to improve the lives of children suffering from right ventricular failure as a result of pulmonary hypertension through providing multidisciplinary, cutting-edge care across the entire spectrum of options. A team of dedicated physicians with expertise in this particular patient population is available to provide both inpatient and outpatient care to patients facing progressive right ventricular dysfunction as a result of abnormalities in their pulmonary vascular bed. The RV Failure Program’s mission is to provide advanced, compassionate, coordinated care to patients and their families, with support modalities ranging from targeted medical management, to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), to novel surgical and catheter-based interventions. 

Physicians from the following specialties within Texas Children’s Hospital participate in multidisciplinary meetings and patient rounds to craft individualized treatment plans for all patients followed by the RV Failure Program:

• Advanced Cardiac Imaging
• Cardiac Anesthesiology
• Congenital Heart Surgery
• Critical Care Medicine
• ECMO
• Interventional Cardiology
• Lung Transplant
• Palliative Care
• Pediatric Surgery
• Pulmonary Hypertension

Patients enrolled into the RV Failure Program will undergo standardized evaluation of their cardiac function, to include echocardiography and/or cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) aimed at accurate characterization of the right ventricle. All cases are discussed by the team, and a multidisciplinary care plan is developed and outlined through the creation of a treatment roadmap. If intensive care is required, patients will be cared for in either the dedicated Pulmonary Intensive Care Unit or Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, both housed in the recently completed, state-of-the-art Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower. 

The team at Texas Children’s partners with other providers around the world in active clinical research as well, ensuring that patients treated at Texas Children’s have access to the most up-to-date procedures and trials offered by any group addressing this particular patient population.