Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery

Children’s National Heart Center provides specialized expertise across the full spectrum of congenital and acquired heart disease in children – from the most common to the most complex. In addition to general cardiac care, our renowned, multidisciplinary team offers state-of-the-art cardiac imaging and diagnostics, interventional cardiology and electrophysiology, heart surgery and cardiac intensive care.

Online Appointment Request Form

The experts at Children’s National Hospital give children and their families the best possible care with innovative medical techniques and family-centered healthcare services. Submit the form to become a patient at Children's National.

Become a patient

Contact Global Services

To get in touch with the Global Services team, please call +1-202-476-5779 or email.

Information Email us

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.

Founded by congenital heart disease and pulse oximetry expert Gerard Martin, M.D., the Heart Center is currently led by first-class doctors, including:

Charles Berul, M.D., a renowned leader in pediatric electrophysiology, recognized for his extensive expertise in heart rhythm abnormalities and cardiac assessments in young athletes
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 catheterization is a medical procedure we use to diagnose and even treat some heart conditions. Using a catheter (a long, thin, flexible tube), we access your child’s heart and blood vessels. Our team of cardiac interventionists performs more than 600 procedures annually.

Our doctors possess special expertise with the use of intravascular stents in the treatment of severe pulmonary artery stenosis and other blood vessel abnormalities. We also offer minimally invasive closure of some types of congenital heart disease with outstanding outcomes and quick recovery – without the need for surgery.

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.

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 septal defect and ventricular septal defect closures
Fontan procedure
Glenn procedure
Heart transplants
PAVC repair
Tetralogy of Fallot repair
Transposition of great arteries repair

Electrophysiology

Intensive Cardiac Care

Our Cardiac ICU provides advanced subspecialty 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.

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.

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.