Congenital Heart Valve Program
Our Innovative Approach
At Children's, our care is informed by our research. Our scientists investigate every aspect of the heart, and the conditions that affect it, so we can offer new and improved treatments to our patients.
Our team uses an innovative 3-dimensional imaging to determine whether an intervention should be catheter- or surgery-based. With our new catheter techniques, we are able to improve the function of heart valves that previously considered to be untreatable. We have also developed surgical procedures to reconstruct many children's damaged valves.
Peter Hammer, PhD and the team of Clinical researchers in our Congenital Heart Valve Program are identifying innovative new approaches to heart valve reconstruction in children with heart diseases and improving their long-term quality of life.
Our aim is to:
- improve our understanding of the biology of valve disease and its development in utero
- improve imaging modalities for precise anatomic and functional assessment of valves, as well as using realtime 3-D Echo and cardiac MRI imaging, and intracardiac echocardiography in older children, to plan for interventions and reparative procedures
- improve therapeutic modalities, both surgical and endovascular, with a focus on less-invasive and more-effective longer-term outcomes
- develop novel devices, such as tissue-engineered valves, steerable catheters for device delivery and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices for valve reconstruction
- clinically evaluate new devices that could lead to better outcomes
- evaluate the safety and effectiveness of new surgical valve therapies through clinical trials and a prospective evaluation of specific repair techniques
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