As the parent or relative of a child with chronic heart disease, you may have already contemplated the possibility of a heart transplant. If your loved one’s heart weakens and all other treatment options are not helping, an artificial heart or transplantation may be the best option. At the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM), we realize this prospect can be daunting and overwhelming, and our job is to make sure that your child is treated with the highest quality of advanced cardiac care and to make sure that you and your family understand the options available.
Our Pediatric Heart Transplant Program is dedicated to treating children with advanced heart failure. At CHAM, you and your child will benefit from a highly experienced multidisciplinary pediatric heart team, superior evaluation services and a family-centered approach that supports your child and your family before, during and after transplantation.
CHAM Performs the First Pediatric Transplant in the Bronx
Our team at CHAM understands your needs and shares more than 40 years' experience treating children with end-stage heart failure, using technology such as artificial hearts and transplantation. Ranked once again among America’s Best Children’s Hospitals in U.S. News & World Report’s 2011–12 edition, CHAM continues to underscore its national reputation as a leader in children’s healthcare and a pioneer in lifesaving treatment solutions.
The first pediatric heart transplant that was performed in the Bronx was implanted at CHAM, after 5-month-old Adrian Flores was admitted with acute heart failure, from a heart muscle disease called cardiomyopathy. Surgeons Samuel Weinstein, MD, David D’Alessandro, MD, and Robert E. Michler, MD, operated just in time to save the little boy’s life. The medical transplant team, including Jacqueline M. Lamour, MD, and Daphne T. Hsu, MD, the pediatric cardiac intensivists and the transplant coordinators took care of him after the transplant, and in just two weeks, Adrian was discharged and carried home by his proud parents.
Unparalleled Comprehensive Transplant Care
The pediatric heart transplant team at CHAM offers each child and family the unique combination of the following specialty care benefits:
- Unparalleled transplant management expertise: Our cardiologists have managed more than 300 children undergoing heart transplant, providing the finest expertise at all stages.
- Thorough transplant education and evaluation: As a family-centered hospital, CHAM places great emphasis on educating parents and family members about every step of the process. A comprehensive medical and psychosocial evaluation ensures appropriate placement on the national waiting list. Our transplant social workers and child life specialists are always available to help parents, caregivers and siblings understand and cope with the transplant process.
- Coordinated multidisciplinary care in all related subspecialties: Children undergoing heart transplantation may need care from pediatric specialists in critical care, noninvasive imaging, electrophysiology, interventional catheterization, neurology, infectious disease, immunology, nephrology, gastroenterology and other pediatric disciplines. You'll find them all—and all conveniently located under one roof—at CHAM.
- Heart failure care that improves your child's surgical prospects: The better your child's health and organ function before receiving a transplant, the better the results after transplant will be. Our specialists have treated more than 800 children with heart failure. They expertly time medical and catheter intervention and customize therapies to maintain your child's health in the best condition while waiting for a new heart. They have special expertise in the use of mechanical assist devices, such as ECMO or the Berlin Heart, to support the circulation when the heart fails.
- Vigilant post-surgery monitoring: At CHAM, our transplant cardiologists, infectious disease specialists, pediatricians and immunologists are authorities in using immunosuppressive medications to prevent transplant rejection, while minimizing infection and drug toxicities. They tailor medical and interventional therapy for your child and coordinate specialty care with other pediatric experts at CHAM, if necessary.
- National leadership in children's cardiac research: Our cardiologists participate in national multicenter children's cardiac research and hold leadership positions in the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study Group; the Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry; the Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation in Pediatrics Heart Transplant study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and the Children’s Cardiomyopathy Foundation.
Contact Information—Pediatric Advanced Cardiac Therapies Program
Phone: 718-741-2315
Email Us: pedheart@montefiore.org
Children’s Hospital at Montefiore
Pediatric Heart Center
3415 Bainbridge Avenue, 5th Floor
Bronx, NY 10467
Jacqueline M. Lamour, MD
Director, Pediatric Advanced Cardiac Therapies
Email: jlamour@montefiore.org
Daphne T. Hsu, MD
Division Chief, Pediatric Cardiology, and Co-Director, Pediatric Heart Center
Email: dhsu@montefiore.org
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