The Children's Heart Center

The Children’s Heart Center is a regional center of excellence in the care of children with heart disease.

We are proud to be a part of St.Vincent Hospital and the Indiana Heart Institute, consistently recognized by US News & World Report as a leader in cardiology and cardiac surgery. Of the 6,400 hospitals surveyed nationwide, St. Vincent's cardiovascular program had one of the three lowest mortality rates in the nation. This measure demonstrates our commitment to provide superior care utilizing the most current diagnostic and treatment modalities in a family-focused environment.

Because of our collaboration with St.Vincent Hospital and the Indiana Heart Institute, we are able to offer the most comprehensive cardiac care in the state. From the most premature infants to the oldest adults, the Children's Heart Center is able to make a lifetime commitment to caring for your child.

Our Distinctive Philosophy

1. Provide superior comprehensive care
2. Utilize state-of-the-art technology
3. Serve the community (national and international)

Our Highest Priority

A focus on superior care distinguishes the Children's Heart Center from other teaching and academic centers in the Midwest. A child's treatment is not automatically delegated to a trainee. At our institution, only fully trained board-certified physicians are entrusted in the care of your child. Children benefit directly from the expertise of pediatric cardiologists, pediatric intensivists and hospitalists, pediatric anesthesiologists and a faculty of highly trained pediatric specialists and sub-specialists.

• Our pediatric intensive care physicians' (intensivists) only duty is to care for children in the pediatric intensive care unit. They provide support 24-hours a day, 7 days a week and are available to respond quickly to your child's needs.
• Our pediatric intensive care unit offers a suite of private rooms, state of the art monitoring equipment, and an all RN nursing staff dedicated to the care of pediatric cardiology and cardiovascular surgery patients.
• All pediatric staff are certified in Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) Pediatric intensive care nurses have an average of 12 years of experience in pediatrics-(some of the most experienced pediatric ICU nurses in Indiana)
• For the past two years data from a Parent Satisfaction Survey of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit has been collected. Families consistently rate the overall quality of care in pediatric intensive care as 4.7 out of 5.0.
• Our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is the only central Indiana provider active in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Evaluation System (PICUES). This national benchmarking system helps define the quality of care for which providers across the country strive to meet.

State of the Art Technology

The Children's Heart Center offers highly specialized diagnostic and surgical capabilities, utilizing the most sophisticated technology available.

• Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)- A treatment available for prolonged heart-lung support. We are one of two pediatric centers in the state capable of providing this support.
• Nitric Oxide-A new treatment available for persistent pulmonary hypertension and children not responding to full ventilatory support.
• Ventilation support-including jet and oscillation therapy
• New pediatric cardiac catheterization laboratory- The only pediatric bi-plane cardiac catheterization lab in the state to produce "cine-less" images. This reduces radiation exposure for the child and the physician.
• Tele-Medicine Echocardiography- The first pediatric center in the state to transmit echocardiographic images from an outlying hospital. This enables prompt diagnosis and treatment for critically ill children outside Indianapolis.
• The largest and highest volume neonatal intensive care unit in the state.

Sharing the Vision

Our medical staff has recognized the need for subspecialty expertise beyond the immediate community and the importance of treating children close to home. Our cardiologists care for children at seven outlying clinics including:

Overseas Ministry

Consistent with St.Vincent's mission, The Children's Heart Center also provides care to children from several underserved areas throughout the world. With the help of Samaritans Purse, The Rotary Club and The Timmy Foundation, we have provided heart surgery to children from Bosnia, Kosovo, and Haiti at no charge to their families. This is the only hope of treatment for these children. Without surgery, they have little chance of reaching adulthood.

A Series of "Firsts"

• First in nation to perform a Stereotaxis pediatric magnetic N21 navigation procedure
  
• Successfully complete a balloon valvuloplasty of the aortic valve in a 1 month old baby
  
• Perform an arterial switch repair in a 4 pound newborn
  
• Successfully construct the right ventricular outflow tract, repair the tricuspid valve and place a central shunt in a newborn
  
• Discharge a child in 24 and 48 hours after PDA ligation and Closure of an atrial septal defect
  
• Close a calcified Patent Ductus Arteriosus with steel coils in a 69 year old woman (review of world literature suggests she is the oldest patient to undergo this procedure successfully)
  
• First pediatric cardiac center in Indiana to transmit echocardiographic images from a remote location to our office. Enables prompt treatment and life saving interventions in a critically ill newborn.
  
• First pediatric cardiac catheterization laboratory in Indiana to use bi-plane "cine-less" imaging. This reduces radiation exposure for the child and physician.