Congenital Cardiac Surgery Service

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Clinical Overview
Current Research
Historical Achievements
Our Surgical Team

Clinical Overview

Averaging more than 800 surgeries annually, the Congenital Cardiac Surgery Service at Emory is one of the most active programs of its type in the country and the most comprehensive in Georgia. The division's use of minimally invasive surgical procedures whenever possible, mechanical heart devices, and improved heart valves has greatly improved the outcomes of surgery for neonates, young infants, children, adolescents, and adults with congenital cardiac disease. Pediatric patients are treated at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston; adult patients at Emory University Hospital. Available procedures include:

	Heart, lung, and heart-lung transplants (Emory has one of the most high-profile cardiac transplantation sites in the country, reaching the dual milestone of Emory's 500th adult heart transplant and 200th pediatric heart transplant in March 2008)
	Staged treatment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome
	Early complete repair of complex intracardiac lesions
	Implantation of prosthetic devices
	Tracheal surgery

For a complete listing of adult and pediatric procedures offered, visit conditions and procedures.

Current Research

The research component of the service is involved in a variety of high-profile investigations, including:

	Surgical treatment of congenital heart disease with an emphasis on early correction in infancy.
	ECMO for the management of postoperative cardiac failure in infants.
	Protection of the brains of children and neonates during cardiopulmonary bypass and circulatory arrest.
	Evaluation of genetic factors involved in the development of single ventricle heart disease and the survival of children with these types of anomalies.
	Collaborations with members of the Georgia Institute of Technology and other major pediatric cardiac surgery centers in the evaluation of blood-flow energy losses for children with palliated single ventricle heart disease.
	The study of long-term outcomes following repair of various congenital heart diseases in association with the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta maintains a listing of current clinical trials being conducted under its auspices.

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Historical Achievements

The Congenital Cardiac Surgery Service is a component of Emory's Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, which has accomplished many milestones:

	Charles Hatcher, MD, performed Georgia's first "blue baby" open heart procedure at Emory in 1962.
	Robert Guyton, MD, designed and created a pediatric heart patch in 1984 that grew along with the heart, negating the need for additional surgery.
	Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's pediatric heart transplant program was established in 1988. Since then, the transplant team has performed more than 200 procedures, one of only a few pediatric hospitals in the nation to achieve such numbers.
	The Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Center, which has complex heart and lung bypass machines that assume a patient's heart and lung functions so that these organs can heal during certain critical illnesses, was established at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta in collaboration with the Division of Pediatric Surgery in 1991. Since then, the center has treated hundreds of patients and is one of only a few pediatric ECMO centers in the southeast that also treats adults.
	In 1999, Dr. David Vega implanted Georgia's first dual pump ventricular assist device as a bridge to transplant.
	Dr. Omar Lattouf performed the world's first totally endoscopic left ventricular resynchronization in 2001.
	In 2003, Dr. Thomas Vassiliades established one of the only cardiac surgery centers in the world to offer endoscopic atraumatic coronary artery bypass (Endo-ACAB), the most minimally invasive bypass surgery presently available.
	In 2006, Dr. Vega and his surgical team implanted Georgia's first ventricular assist device (VAD) as a means of providing permanent therapy for heart failure rather than as a bridge to transplant. In 2007, Dr. Vega and his team implanted a smaller and lighter VAD for the same purpose that featured an automatic speed control mode designed to regulate pumping activity based on different levels of patient or cardiac activity.

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	In 1988, Dr. Kirk Kanter was part of the Emory surgical team that performed Georgia's first "domino" heart transplant. That same year, he performed the state's first pediatric heart transplant on a three-year-old at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. In 1993, he performed Georgia's first lung transplant. He was appointed Egleston's Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery as well as Director of the Heart and Lung Transplant Program in 1998. Under Dr. Kanter's guidance, Egleston began offering the Stage 1 Norwood procedure for hypoplastic left heart syndrome in 2000; by 2005, the service was achieving some of the best outcomes with the procedure in the country with a 91 percent 30-day in-hospital survival rate.
	Dr. Paul Kirshbom, the Medical Director of the Cardiac ECMO Program at Egleston, came to Emory in 2002 after completing his fellowship in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He devotes part of his time to research initiatives, such as evaluating the genetic factors involved in the development of single ventricle heart disease, and specializes in neonatal and infant cardiac repairs, congenital heart disease, and neurological protection.
	Dr. Brian Kogon joined the service after completing his pediatric cardiac surgery fellowship at Emory in 2004. In 2006 he was appointed Surgical Director of Adult Congenital Cardiac Surgery. In March 2008, Dr. Kogon performed Emory University Hospital's 500th adult heart transplant. His clinical focuses are pediatric cardiac surgery, cardiac transplantation, and adult congenital heart surgery.

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