Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery

Children’s National Heart Center offers specialized care for children with congenital and acquired heart disease – from the most common conditions to the most complex. In addition to general cardiac care, our renowned team offers state-of-the-art cardiac imaging and diagnostics, interventional cardiology and electrophysiology, and groundbreaking heart surgery techniques.

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World Class Expertise

Thousands of families from around the world seek care at Children’s National Heart Center from our team of internationally-respected pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. When you come to Children’s National, you are getting a team that includes pediatric experts from more than 40 subspecialties, ensuring your child has the best possible care.

The Heart Center is led by the following world-renowned doctors:

Wayne Franklin, M.D., the senior vice president of the Heart Center who oversees the full spectrum of heart care services including cardiac imaging and diagnostics, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, cardiac anesthesia, cardiac surgery and cardiac intensive care.
Yves d’Udekem, M.D., Ph.D., a world-class pediatric cardiac surgeon who specializes in single ventricle congenital heart defects
Ricardo Muñoz, M.D., an international expert in cardiac intensive care and telemedicine

Pediatric Heart Care: Services We Provide

We offer a full range of heart care for your child, including:

Advanced Cardiac Therapies and Heart Transplant Program

Cardiac Catheterization

Cardiac Imaging

We offer advanced imaging techniques to obtain highly detailed pictures of your child’s heart structure and function:

Echocardiography. This is an ultrasound of the heart. Our echocardiography program, led by Craig Sable, M.D., performs more than 20,000 echocardiograms per year, including nearly 3,000 fetal echocardiograms, making us one of the busiest echocardiography laboratories in the country.
Cardiac MRI. A noninvasive imaging technique, cardiac MRI provides comprehensive evaluations for complex heart conditions, such as tetralogy of Fallot and cardiomyopathies.
Interventional Cardiac MRI. This unique program allows us to perform MRI procedures and cardiac catheterization procedures on the same day, reducing the need for sedation and multiple procedures.

Cardiogenetics

Cardiogenetics is the area of medicine that determines the genetic cause of heart disease. We established the Cardiogenetics Program to help families with known or suspected inherited heart diseases receive early detection and treatment. We’re able to provide this care by leveraging our position as the largest clinical genetics program in the country – offering advanced care to more than 8,500 patients annually.

Cardio-Oncology

Heart Surgery

Our surgeons perform hundreds of procedures each year, the majority of which are on patients less than one-year-old. Procedures we perform include:

Aortic valve stenosis repair
Arterial switch operation (ASO)
Atrial, ventricular and atrioventricular septal defect repair
Fontan procedure
Glenn procedure
Heart transplants
Hybrid procedures for single ventricle anomalies (hypoplastic left heart syndrome and hypoplastic right heart syndrome)
Nikaidoh procedure
Neonatal Ross procedure
PAVC repair
Tetralogy of Fallot repair
Transposition of great arteries repair

Electrophysiology

Intensive Cardiac Care (ICU)

Our Cardiac ICU provides advanced care for severely ill patients suffering from congenital or acquired heart disease. Our state-of-the-art unit is a 34,000 square-foot space with 26 beds and private rooms. It includes a wi-fi-enabled tele-cardiac robot that aids in patient monitoring as well as a telehealth command center, overseen by Ricardo Muñoz, M.D., chief of Cardiac Critical Care and executive director of Telehealth, that allows us to keep constant watch over patients in the ICU. Each room has facilities suitable for families to stay, as well as other services that can reduce the stress of serious illness.

Kawasaki Disease Program

Prenatal Cardiology Program

Our innovative fetal cardiology program, led by Mary Donofrio, M.D., cares for your unborn child as a separate and individual patient. Comprehensive care begins in utero as our fetal heart experts – who will be with you throughout your experience – work hand-in-hand with surgeons to make a plan for your child. A unique feature of the program is that while our team cares for the fetal heart, we monitor brain function and other aspects of fetal development in coordination with experts from the Children's National Prenatal Pediatrics Institute to ensure the best outcomes.

Preventive Cardiology Program

Washington Adult Congenital Heart Program

Choosing Children’s National for Cardiac Care

The Heart Center's mission is to be a leading center for congenital heart disease, providing optimal cardiac care in a safe, family-centered, state-of-the-art environment. Highlights of our program include:

Our renowned pediatric cardiac surgeons conduct more than 600 cardiac procedures each year, and care for a range of cardiac anomalies from the very rare to the most common issues. We are also one of few programs in the United States that offers a team of anesthesiologists subspecialty trained and certified in pediatric cardiac anesthesia.