Neonatal and Pediatric Heart Surgery
If your child needs heart surgery, there’s nothing more important than finding the best possible care. Atrium Health Levine Children’s is home to some of the nation’s top experts in pediatric heart surgery. These surgeons have decades of experience in every type of childhood heart procedure, from minimally invasive mitral valve repairs to heart transplants. Our expertise, combined with innovative techniques, means we can give your child the best opportunity for a long, bright future.
Make an appointment
To learn more about neonatal and pediatric heart surgery at Levine Children’s, contact us at 704-373-1813.
Treatments
- Aortic valve repair and replacement: This procedure can mend conditions like aortic valve stenosis or regurgitation, where the aortic valve does not work properly.
- Tetralogy of Fallot surgeries: These surgeries repair the 4 heart defects this illness causes. Children typically need this surgery in the first 6 months of life. Our team creates a custom care plan for each child to give them the best chance of a healthy outcome.
- Arterial switch operation: This operation is for children with transposition of the great arteries. During this procedure, surgeons move the arteries so blood can flow through the body properly. We typically perform this surgery in the first week of life. Then we’ll support your child as they grow into adulthood.
- Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) surgeries: These procedures can allow a child to live with an underdeveloped or absent left heart. This process typically requires 3 surgeries: One a few days after birth (the Norwood procedure), one around 4 to 6 months (the Glenn operation) and one around age 4 (the Fontan procedure). Our team has done hundreds of these surgeries, mending the hearts of babies like yours so they can reach their full potential.
- Mitral valve repair: This procedure fixes the valve between 2 of your heart’s chambers.
- Installing ventricular assist devices (VADs): VADs help kids’ hearts pump stronger. We offer one of the smallest heart pumps available, which can support a child’s failing heart until it recovers or until a transplant is available.
- Heart transplants: We’re the only hospital in the region with specialized expertise in heart transplants for kids. Our team makes this procedure as safe and easy as possible on your child and family – for example, we do extensive testing to make sure the donated heart is a good match for your child. We’re also pioneering ways to make this lifesaving procedure available to more children.
- Thoracic and chest wall repairs: These surgeries repair the chest wall of children with excavatum (bowing inwards) or carinatum (bowing outwards) deformities. We use the latest techniques to make this procedure easier on your child. We’ll also support them through recovery and help them transition back into their daily activities.
Supportive services
Children with heart problems often need extra support during treatment and for years after. We offer a wide variety of services to help your child and family, all under one roof. These include:
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Camp LUCK. This free summer camp is for kids with heart conditions and their siblings. This camp helps kids and their families create a community of people sharing similar experiences.
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The HEARTest Yard. A program that provides in-home nursing support for children and families as they transition home from the hospital. This program is funded by the Greg Olsen Foundation and was launched after the former Carolina Panthers football player and his wife, Kara, had a baby with a severe heart defect.
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Cardiac neurodevelopmental program. Having heart surgery as a baby may affect how your child’s brain develops. This program will monitor your child for years after their surgery to make sure their learning and development are on track – and to help them through any challenges that arise.
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Child life specialists. Who help kids prepare for medical procedures, explain treatments to families, and guide children through recovery with games and play.
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Nurse navigators. These nurses support and build close relationships with each patient and family. They become experts on each child’s condition and medical history, teach parents at-home care, attend appointments to answer questions and discuss treatments, and more.
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Nutritionists. Our nutritionists make sure kids get all the nutrients they need to stay strong.
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Pastoral care. Our chaplains offer religious and spiritual support when families request a visit.
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Social workers. Who help families navigate every aspect of supporting a sick child – from needing financial help to addressing social issues and more.
Why choose Levine Children's?
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Part of a world-class heart program: All Levine Children’s heart specialists and surgeons are part of Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute – home to world-renowned specialists in pediatric and adult heart care.
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Top results: Our surgeons specialize in helping kids and have some of the region’s best outcomes. That’s one reason why U.S. News and World Report ranks us among the best children’s hospitals for cardiology and heart surgery.
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Experience: We have pediatric heart surgeons who staff our program 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. These experts have spent decades performing surgery on everyone from tiny babies to adults – so when you choose our team, you’re putting your child in highly experienced hands.
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Teamwork: Neonatal and pediatric heart surgery requires many specialists working together. Levine Children’s experts in fetal cardiology, cardiac imaging, cardiac intensive care, anesthesia and more evaluate your child’s condition from every angle. Then they meet weekly to discuss each child’s unique situation and work together to create a custom care plan.
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Advanced treatments and technologies: We use the latest tools to give your child the best chance of a good outcome. For example, we’ll often use a 3D printer that creates an exact model of your child’s heart. This helps us understand their condition and plan the best way to conduct surgery.
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Specialized cardiac intensive care unit (CICU): Our CICU is a place where critically ill babies, children, teens and young adults get care from a staff that is 100% focused on children with heart problems. It’s home to multiple full-time board-certified cardiac intensive care doctors and a team of specialized nurses. These experts offer 24/7 care, and their advanced training helps kids with heart failure and other conditions achieve better outcomes.
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Lifelong care: We support families for life. This often starts with helping families plan their baby’s delivery and treatment before they’re born to make sure they quickly get the care they need. Then we monitor your child so we can find – and fix – heart problems and other issues as soon as they arise. We’ll also support your child as they grow, monitoring for developmental challenges and other common issues that kids with heart conditions face.
The HEARTest Yard Congenital Heart Center
1001 Blythe Blvd., Suite 500
Charlotte, NC 28203
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