Cardiac Anesthesia Services

We know that surgery and anesthesia can be scary for both parent and child—it's normal to feel anxious or concerned. But you can be reassured that, at Children’s Hospital Boston, your child is in good hands. While your child's surgeon or cardiologist focuses complete attention on the demanding task of repairing a defective heart, the cardiac anesthesiologist carries out a series of behind-the-scenes tasks that positively affect the safety and success of the procedure.

Children with congenital and acquired heart disease have special needs when it comes to administering anesthesia—and the pediatric anesthesiologists in our Cardiac Anesthesia Service are specially trained to care for these children. Whether your child is scheduled for a minor procedure or major surgery, we make sure your child is safe and comfortable.

Our expertise

A pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist is a physician with special and specific training in the anesthetic and perioperative management of children with heart disease. Our team consists of 13 full-time pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists who are exclusively dedicated to caring for patients with heart disease.

Our cardiac anesthesiologists have many years of experience providing anesthesia, pain management and other services for some of the most complex surgical cases in the world. Each year, we care for more than 1,000 infants, children and adults in our cardiac operation rooms—and for more than 1,300 such patients undergoing cardiac catheterization, electrophysiology studies and other procedures.

Besides our pediatric patients, we also provide anesthesia and perioperative care for adults who need cardiac surgery or other procedures because of long-standing or previously treated congenital heart disease.

We also have extensive experience and expertise caring for patients who are at high-risk for anesthesia.

Our services

Children's pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists provide services that include:

• preoperative assessment and consultation
• coordination of care for patients who need multiple procedures
• sedation or anesthesia (as needed) for imaging tests, cardiac catheterization, cardiac and non-cardiac surgery, and other procedures
• development and continuous refinement of strategies, equipment, drugs and techniques to maintain organ function and optimize the outcomes of these procedures
• pain management during and after surgery, and for chronic conditions