Research and innovation are the backbone of progress at Benderson Family Heart Center. Our team closely follows the center’s belief that new and safe ways to best treat newborns with serious congenital heart defects (CHDs) are always within reach. Here are some of our ongoing efforts on that front:
Data-driven bedside monitoring shapes real-time care
Aside from relying on experience and expertise to assess patients, our team also makes the most of data from a patient-monitoring system known as T3 (Tracking, Trajectory, and Triggering). Developed by Boston Children’s and used in other hospitals, T3 captures every single vital sign of patients from bedside monitors. The data inform predictive analytics that give us early indications of a patient’s progression or regression, allowing us to make timely and informed decisions on care. The data trigger an early warning system so that we have ample time to react.
Keeping a close eye on infants’ neurodevelopment
We’re also focused on safeguarding neurodevelopment for infants who need bypass surgery. We work closely with the Cardiac Neurodevelopment Program to support the developmental treatment plans for patients who are potentially at risk. We also collaborate with an inpatient developmental care program in the Acute Cardiac Care Unit (ACCU) and Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) — supporting the development of newborns and young infants who are patients in those units.
Through staff education and by engaging families, we integrate principles of an approach advocated by NIDCAP to create individualized, developmentally supportive care from the very beginning.
Improving developmental care for infants in cardiac intensive care
Our CICU integrates individualized developmental care practices into the regular care of infants to ensure they are on the right path toward the best long-term development and quality of life.
Data analysis improves our overall approach to care
Our team gathers data on all newborns with CHD to analyze patterns and review outcomes so that we can identify areas where we can improve the processes and decisions that shape care. A finding on improved health outcomes, for example, led to us reducing the time an infant’s chest is open during surgery.
Early treatment for CHD and pulmonary overcirculation
Working closely with the Department of Cardiology, our team reconfigured a vascular plug to act as a pulmonary artery (PA) flow restrictor — making Boston Children’s among the first U.S. hospitals to use the specific technology as a palliative measure for newborns with CHD and overcirculation.
Finding a way to help newborns who can’t immediately have heart treatment
Our heart specialists leaned into technological innovation, their experience, and a perseverance that would ultimately confirm their belief that even the highest-risk cases are not out of reach.