Tel Aviv Medical Clinic has one of the most necessary and effective departments – Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department. Here, hundreds of children with serious illnesses and congenital defects of heart and large vessels receive highly qualified medical care every year.

In last 10-20 years, the number of cardiovascular pathologies among children has increased significantly, and this is due not only to improved diagnosis of such diseases, but also to their actual increase. According to statistics, today congenital heart defects of varying severity are diagnosed in 12-15 children out of 1000. Therefore, such areas as pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery are becoming very relevant.

Government of the State of Israel understands this very well and generously funds the development of this medicine sphere. Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department at TAMC is equipped with only modern expert-class diagnostic and treatment equipment, so our patients and their parents can count on high-quality and advanced medical care for any diseases of cardiovascular system.

Children of any age can receive all care they need, including newborns and unborn children. Perinatal Cardiac Surgery Clinic operates on the basis of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department. Here they carry out expert diagnostics of congenital heart defects in fetuses during pregnancy in women. If a problem is detected, perinatal cardiac surgeons, together with specialists in the field of obstetrics and gynecology, perinatal ultrasound diagnostics, monitor pregnancy and perform fetal heart surgery, starting from the 22nd week of intrauterine development.

Specialists at Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department perform all types of surgical interventions on heart and large vessels. Most often, TAMC cardiac surgeons perform surgical manipulations on beating heart, minimally invasive cardiac surgery for plastic surgery of ventricular and atrial septal defects, interventions to reconstruct or replace heart valves, and correction of single or multiple heart defects. The department has a unique hybrid operating room, where combined interventions are performed – open heart surgery along with cardiac catheterization.

The main treatment advantages in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department at TAMC:

High-quality training and high professionalism of cardiac surgeons who produce surgeries on children with cardiovascular system diseases.
Modern, effective and safe diagnostic equipment that allows us to carry out all the necessary studies in 1-3 working days.
Preferable application of gentle and minimally invasive interventions rather than classical surgery and open heart surgery.
Affordable pricing policy, payment upon receipt of services.
Providing professional psychological support for child and his parents.
Comfortable living conditions, wards have everything you need to make hospital environment as close as possible to home.
Possibility for child to stay in room with one of parents or custodians.

Accompaniment by an employee of medical tourism department at all stages of diagnosis and treatment, interpreters services.

Process of trauma surgery operation. Group of surgeons in operating room with surgery equipment. Medical background, selective focus

Departments

On the basis of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department, there are several departments, clinics and operating rooms, which deal with their specific areas. This makes doctors’ work more efficient, since they know all nuances and have enormous unique experience in their sphere of cardiac surgery.

Interventional cardiac surgery – specialists in this profile perform all types of interventional (percutaneous) cardiac surgery, for example, plastic surgery or aortic heart valve replacement, closure of atrial septal defect or ventricular septal defect.
Clinic for diagnostics and treatment of arrhythmias – cardiac arrhythmology surgeons conduct all the necessary studies, including heart electrophysiological studies, which make it possible to accurately determine the type of arrhythmia and its source in heart. Then an interventional treatment is performed – radiofrequency ablation (RFA).
Aortic surgery – cardiac surgeons in this specialty perform complex surgeries on aorta, for example, in case of aortic dissection, aneurysm or rupture.
Open surgery – as a rule, cardiac surgeons of this profile perform surgeries on the most complex pathologies, for example, combined congenital heart defects, in cases where minimally invasive intervention is impossible. These are complex open-heart surgeries, often involving cardiac arrest and connecting the patient to a heart-lung machine. Heart transplantation surgeries are also performed here.
Resuscitation and intensive care unit – here children with acute heart lesions, as well as children with cardiovascular system pathologies that are life-threatening, receive all the necessary care; patients after heart surgery are accommodated here.
Diagnostic department – specialists in this profile know all the necessary methods for examining cardiac patients, the department is equipped with all the necessary equipment for functional and instrumental studies in cardiology and cardiac surgery (ECG, heart ultrasound, coronary angiography, stress tests, MRI of heart, myocardial scintigraphy, blood laboratory and much more other).
Perinatal surgery clinic – here we monitor fetus condition if it has congenital defects in the development of heart and large vessels, and also carry out unique surgeries to correct them even before the birth of child.
Rehabilitation department – specialists in this profile develop and carry out individual rehabilitation measures for children with chronic diseases of cardiovascular system, after heart surgery and after transplantation.

What diseases does Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department treat?

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Diagnostic methods in pediatric surgery

The standard diagnostic program in TAMC consists of 3 stages. At the first stage, immediately upon arrival at clinic, little patient, together with his parents, goes to an initial consultation with a cardiologist. Specialist systematizes complaints, medical history, assesses child’s general health, and reviews medical documentation that parents brought with them. Based on these data, doctor makes a preliminary diagnosis and develops plan for further examination (a set of necessary laboratory and instrumental tests).

At the second stage, diagnostics itself takes place in Diagnostic Department. All necessary research can be completed in 1-3 business days. Diagnostic program usually includes the following studies:

All necessary laboratory tests of blood and urine.
Digital radiography of chest organs.
Computed tomography of chest with or without contrast.
MRI of the heart.
Myocardial scintigraphy.
Myocardial biopsy.
Transthoracic or transesophageal echocardiogram (heart ultrasound).
ECG and Holter ECG monitoring.
Blood pressure measurement and Holter blood pressure monitoring.
Coronary angiography or CT coronary angiography (virtual coronary angiography).
Electrophysiological study of heart and determination of arrhythmia source.
Functional stress tests (treadmill, step test, bicycle ergometry, drug stress tests).

At the third stage, cardiologist studies all complex diagnostics results, forms a detailed final diagnosis and, together with other specialists, decides on the need for cardiac surgery.

Important!

Diagnostic stage in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department is taken very seriously, because the correct diagnosis is half of success in treatment. We have all the necessary modern diagnostic equipment.

Only after a thorough and in-depth program of child’s condition studying, a council of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons decide on the need for surgical intervention.

Modern treatment methods in pediatric cardiac surgery

Treatment of arrhythmias using ablation (RFA). This is a minimally invasive but very effective cardiac interventional procedure during which no incision is made on chest. Surgeon inserts all the necessary instruments into heart by catheterizing a peripheral artery (usually the femoral one). When catheter reaches desired location, an electric current is supplied to myocardium through a special electrode, which cauterizes the site that is arrhythmia source. Thus, child will forever get rid of problem and necessaty to take not the safest medications every day to control heart rate. Application of innovative CARTO navigation system makes it possible to increase the accuracy of radiofrequency ablation for arrhythmias and reduce x-ray load on child’s body. The system allows us to create a 3D model of heart with problem area visualization, which allows the cardiac surgeon to perform targeted ablation.

Heart valves minimally invasive replacement or plastic surgery. Until a few years ago, replacement or repair of heart valves was performed exclusively on an open heart and required chest opening. Most cardiology clinics still do this. In Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department at TAMC, all such interventions are performed using a minimally invasive method without a single incision in chest by catheterizing the heart through a peripheral vessel (femoral artery most often). An example is TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) surgery, which is performed in operating room with X-ray to visually monitor cardiac surgeon’s manipulation of patient’s heart.

Perinatal cardiac surgery. Thanks to modern development of prenatal ultrasound diagnostics, congenital heart defects can in most cases be detected at the stage of fetus intrauterine development. And if 2 decades ago in some especially difficult cases this was a death sentence for a child, today there is a real chance to save his life. Thanks to development of such a medical sphere as perinatal cardiac surgery, it is possible to perform manipulations on child’s heart even before birth. Such surgeries are possible from gestation period of 22-23 weeks. They can improve the prognosis and often even avoid the necessaty for heart transplantation in the first years after baby’s birth.

Most often, fetal cardiac surgery is resorted to in 2 cases:

Hypoplasia of the left heart is underdevelopment of the left ventricle and atrium, which are combined with hypoplasia of aortic or mitral valve.
Complete transverse heart block is a life-threatening condition for fetus, which consists of stopping the conduction of impulses through heart conduction system from atria to ventricles.

Technical implementation of such surgeries is a very difficult task, which only a few specialists can handle. Fetal cardiac surgery is performed under general anesthesia with uterus opening and exposure of fetus. Next, fetal surgeon performs all the necessary manipulations on fetal heart structures using catheterization, after which fetus is placed back into uterus. Pregnancy continues, and child in womb no longer has a life-threatening cardiac pathology.

Minimally invasive interventions for ASD and VSD. Ventricular and atrial septal defects are very common congenital heart defects in children. Until recently, to eliminate them, the chest was opened and open-heart surgery was performed. Today, TAMC cardiac surgeons perform such surgeries using minimally invasive techniques – by heart catheterizing through femoral artery and installing a special patch at the site of defect, which completely eliminates heart defect.

Among the main advantages of minimally invasive cardiac surgery are:

reducing the number of all possible postoperative complications;
reduction of hospitalization and hospital stay;
quick recovery after surgery;
there is practically no pain syndrome;
gentle methods of anesthesia;
excellent cosmetic effect after intervention – there is no large postoperative scar left on chest skin.

Balloon valvuloplasty of pulmonary valve. Pulmonary stenosis is a common congenital heart defect in children. At TAMC, this problem is eliminated through modern minimally invasive cardiac surgery – balloon valvuloplasty of the pulmonary valve. Surgeon catheterizes heart through femoral artery and inserts a special balloon into narrowing site. When the balloon reaches its destination, doctor inflates it, thereby eliminating stenosis and restoring normal blood flow to heart.

This is only a small part of modern and unique methods of treating young patients in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department of Tel Aviv Medical Clinic. If your child has been diagnosed with heart disease and you are looking for options on how to help him, contact our specialists who will not refuse help even in the most difficult cases.