Cardiothoracic Surgery

The UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital continues to be at the forefront of pediatric heart surgery in Southern California and nationwide. We have a rapidly growing volume of congenital heart patients with over 350 operations annually. We specialize in the most complex procedures performed in the youngest of patients, including the Norwood procedure, Arterial Switch Operation and the Ross procedure.

We have three dedicated surgeons, Dr. Glen Van Arsdell, Dr. Laks and Dr. Reshma Biniwale. The children are operated in an environment totally dedicated to pediatric patients with a team trained specially to deal with complex heart defects. The preoperative and postoperative care is managed by a multidisciplinary team consisting of surgeons, cardiologists and intensive care specialists. Children and their parents have daily contact with the entire team and are updated on the child's progress.

Adult congenital heart patients are the fastest growing subset of our population. We provide continuity of care for teenagers with heart disease transitioning to adulthood. With over 30 years of experience in heart transplantation, we continue to be one of the world leaders in this specialty for patients with congenital heart disease as well as cardiomyopathy. We follow our patients into adulthood and provide redo heart transplant as well as multi-organ transplant and/ or mechanical heart device options.

Our surgical team works collaboratively with the interventional cardiology team to perform ground-breaking "hybrid" procedures on select patients to provide a less invasive treatment for congenital heart and valvular disease. Arrhythmia surgery in patients with heart defects, as well as novel cardiac resynchronization therapy as a hybrid approach is being performed. We are continually striving to develop and bring cutting edge of technology to provide the highest standards of patient care and safety.

Links

UCLA Congenital Heart Surgery Program on NPR early survivors with HLHS s/p Norwood