Programs & Services | Overview
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The following is a list of the Department of Cardiology’s extensive programs and services.
Divisions and sections
- Advanced Cardiac Therapies (ACT): When traditional care strategies no longer benefit patients whose hearts are failing, ACT manages and treats their condition with innovative therapies to optimize their cardiovascular health and quality of life.
- Basic & Translational Research: The program pursues cutting-edge research to discover new therapies that will improve outcomes and advance the treatment of children and adults with heart disease.
- Boston Adult Congenital Heart (BACH) and Pulmonary Hypertension: Committed to providing a lifetime of care to patients, BACH offers a full range of inpatient and outpatient clinical services — from diagnosis to cardiac catheterization and surgical repair — to adults with congenital heart defects (CHD) and pulmonary hypertension.
- Cardiology Fellowship: The Department of Cardiology has been at the forefront of clinical and research training, preparing the clinicians who are behind many of the groundbreaking advances in pediatric cardiology.
- Clinical Research: For decades, Boston Children’s researchers have shaped pediatric medicine and changed children’s lives — and that work hasn’t stopped. Our cardiology clinical researchers are committed to better understanding heart conditions and enhancing and rigorously evaluating new treatments, techniques, devices, and medications that improve heart health.
- Ambulatory Cardiology Services: This team of cardiologists not only specializes in diagnosing and treating heart conditions but also following patients throughout their lives, providing compassionate care, and ensuring children and adults will benefit from the most appropriate and current treatment.
- Cardiac Critical Care (CICU): The CICU is one of the largest and most sophisticated intensive care units in the country solely dedicated to the care of critically ill children who need or have had surgery to treat cardiac disease. The CICU also cares for children with serious non-surgical conditions such as heart failure and myocarditis, and adults who have developed complications because of long-standing CHD.
- Cardiac Imaging: Our cardiac imaging specialists use state-of-the-art techniques to get detailed information about heart function and structure to help form treatment plans tailored to each patient’s condition.
- Electrophysiology: Focusing on disorders of the heart’s electrical system, our electrophysiology specialists diagnose and treat the specific needs of children and adults with heart rhythm problems.
- Inpatient Cardiology: The Acute Cardiac Care Unit (ACCU) provides around-the-clock care and monitoring of children and adults who are receiving inpatient treatment for acquired and congenital heart defects.
- Interventional Cardiology: Our team of interventionalists use and create advanced catheterization devices and other technologies to diagnose and treat CHD through minimally invasive procedures.
Clinical programs
- Cardiac Antithrombosis Management Program (CAMP) Program: CAMP provides quality, comprehensive care to patients with heart disease who are on lifelong anticoagulation regimens, reducing their risk of blood clots.
- Cardiac Fitness Program (CFP): The cardiac fitness program is a three-month, individualized, supervised exercise program for children and adults with CHD. It is designed to improve fitness, confidence, and promote possibilities rather than limitations.
- Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program (CNP): CNP complements children’s core medical care by monitoring their development and learning, and proactively connecting them to resources that can help them meet their developmental and personal goals.
- Cardio Hematology/Oncology Service: The service evaluates and cares for heart conditions possibly related to cancer treatment. Our specialists support your child’s heart and cardiovascular system during and after cancer therapy, and can help determine if any cancer therapies should be avoided because of possible risks to the heart.
- Cardiomyopathy Program: The program’s specialists treat several forms of the disease — including dilated cardiomyopathy and restrictive cardiomyopathy — with medications, mechanical devices, and minimally invasive surgical procedures. They also prepare children for heart transplantation, if needed.
- The Center for Cardiovascular Genetics: The center’s multidisciplinary team conducts comprehensive genetic testing, examinations, and monitoring of children and adults with cardiovascular genetic conditions. It also offers counseling and long-term clinical care.
- Cardiovascular Health for Cancer Survivors Program: This unique program diagnoses cardiovascular issues in patients who have survived childhood cancer, focusing on early intervention to optimize outcomes.
- Complex Biventricular Repair Program: The program develops innovative approaches to create two heart ventricles for children who have been relying on only one ventricle to pump blood. These new forms of surgical treatment avoid the complications of older procedures and aim to improve a child’s circulation and overall health.
- Congenital Heart Valve Program: The specialists of this program devise innovative catheter-based and surgical approaches for the preservation and restoration of valvular function in infants, children, and young adults.
- Coronary Artery Program: The program takes a systematic approach to detecting the many variations and patterns of coronary anomalies, determining the best way to treat abnormalities or malformations of coronary arteries.
- Duchenne muscular dystrophy: Working alongside a multidisciplinary subspecialty care team, our specialists diagnose and treat children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, who have a high risk of developing cardiomyopathy.
- Fetal Cardiology Program: As the largest, most experienced fetal cardiac intervention program in the world, a team of cardiologists, nurses, and specialists evaluate and diagnose fetal heart defects and provide the best possible care to families before and after a baby’s delivery.
- Fontan at Boston (FAB) Clinic: The clinic offers holistic, multidisciplinary care for children and adults born with a single ventricle heart defect who have had a Fontan procedure.
- Heart Failure Program: The largest of its kind in the U.S., the program takes advantage of a wide range of advanced heart therapies to support pediatric heart function, helping to delay or completely avoid the need for heart transplant while improving heart function.
- Heart Transplant Program: The program brings together clinical and research expertise to the diagnosis and treatment of children who are potential candidates for transplantation and manages the care of those who have received transplanted hearts.
- Heart Tumor Program: Grounded in research and making the most of advanced imaging techniques, the program specializes in diagnosing and treating heart tumors as well as other masses involving the heart.
- Heterotaxy Program: A collaboration of clinicians from several medical disciplines, the program provides comprehensive, lifelong care to infants and children with heterotaxy, a complex syndrome that affects many organ systems throughout the body.
- Kawasaki Disease Program: A team of cardiologists, rheumatologists, and a pediatric nurse practitioner who are experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of Kawasaki disease provides coordinated care, from diagnosis and treatment to long-term follow-up.
- Preventive Cardiology Clinic: Focused on managing cholesterol, blood pressure, and other risk factors for heart disease, the program develops personalized healthy eating and exercise plans for patients.
- Pulmonary Hypertension Program: The skilled experts in this multidisciplinary program work together to pinpoint a diagnosis and find the most appropriate course of treatment for those who have pulmonary hypertension.
- Pulmonary Vein Stenosis Program: Cardiology, cardiac health, pulmonary hypertension, gastroenterology, and nutrition specialists collaborate to diagnose and treat the particular challenges of pulmonary vein stenosis. Backed by research and experience, the team creates patient-centered care plans to improve circulation and quality of life.
- Single Ventricle Program: The program brings together several specialized services and programs to care for patients with single ventricle heart defects — from diagnosis to surgical and medical treatments to neurodevelopmental and social support.
- Sports Cardiology Program: The program helps pediatric and young adult athletes with known or suspected heart disease participate in sports safely and to their best ability. They benefit from consultations with a sports cardiologist, comprehensive condition management, and individually tailored exercise testing.
- Structural Heart Program: Our multidisciplinary team uses nonsurgical and minimally invasive procedures to treat conditions that affect valves, arteries, and other structural parts of the heart.
- Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) Program: The program cares for patients with the most severe forms of heart failure by implanting VADs, electrical-powered heart pumps that work in concert with the heart to improve blood flow.
Cardiology services
- Cardiac Catheterization Lab: Cardiac catheterization specialists investigate and treat congenital heart defects using catheters and devices to close holes, expand narrowed passages, and open new passages. A cardiac catheterization can also observe a fetus or child’s heart structure and measure pressures and oxygen levels.
- Exercise Physiology Lab: Formal exercise testing can provide valuable insights into how well a patient’s heart, lungs, and muscles work together at increasing levels of activity. The lab uses state-of-the-art technology to obtain reliable and useful information.
- Cardiac CT: A cardiac CT (computed tomography) scan is a test that uses x-rays to create detailed images of the heart and its blood vessels.
- Cardiac MRI: Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a test that uses radio waves, magnets, and a computer to take pictures of the heart.
- Echocardiogram: An echocardiogram (echo or cardiac ultrasound) uses sound waves to see the heart's structures and function.