Our multidisciplinary team

At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), we take a family-centered approach to caring for children with heart failure. Your child’s healthcare team will include:

• Cardiologists
• Surgeons
• Cardiac anesthesiologists
• Intensive care physicians
• Nurses and nurse practitioners
• Heart transplant physicians
• Rehabilitation physicians
• Respiratory therapists
• Nutritionists
• Physical and occupational therapists

The members of this team work together to ensure that every patient receives the best care for their stage of heart failure.

In addition, our specialists will consult with your child's pediatrician or family doctor regularly and provide updates on your child's progress.

Organ donor awareness

While we have no way of knowing how long your child will have to wait for a compatible heart, you should know that organ donation awareness is high in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware region. This is due largely to education by state governments in partnership with Gift of Life, the organization in this region that procures and matches organs, which has the highest procurement rate in the nation.

State-of-the-art facilities

After the heart transplant, your child will be cared for in CHOP’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), one of the nation's largest and best-equipped CICUs. The unit's highly experienced critical care staff is specifically trained in the care of transplant patients, as well as a variety of other critically ill children with heart disease. The CICU staff works closely with the transplant team to care for your child.

When it’s time to leave the CICU, your child will be transferred to the Cardiac Care Unit (CCU), where the nursing staff also has special training in caring for heart transplant patients.

Expertise with complex conditions

Treating advanced heart failure in congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the greatest challenges in pediatric cardiology — and we have a program dedicated to meeting that challenge. The Advanced Cardiac Therapies for Heart Failure Patients (ACT-HF) program provides children with advanced heart failure the full range of care: rehabilitation, the implantation of a mechanical device to help the heart pump blood (called a ventricular assist device), heart transplant and beyond. The ACT-HF team members are international leaders in advanced heart failure and innovative care for children with cardiomyopathy and complex heart disease. Our heart failure team is one of the most experienced in the country. We have pioneered innovative mechanical circulatory support to improve post-transplant outcomes. Our experts include a research team dedicated to the development of targeted medical therapies aimed at preventing and treating heart failure.

Our volumes and outcomes

An important fact for your family to know is the number of pediatric heart transplants done here and our transplant survival rates.

The number of transplants done here in a recent five-year period:

• 2023: 15 transplants
• 2022: 13 transplants
• 2021: 17 transplants
• 2020: 11 transplants
• 2019: 12 transplants

For patients aged 0 to 17, our heart graft survival rates (the transplanted organ continues to function) are 91% at one month and 86% at one year post-transplant. For the same age group, our patient survival rates are 90% at one month and at one year post-transplant. (Source: Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients)

Next-generation technology

CHOP is one of the first pediatric transplant centers to use groundbreaking technology for organ procurement and transplant that allows the donated organ to thrive outside of the body. This allows the organ to travel longer distances. The result is a greater chance for a successful transplant.

Family-centered care

Transitioning to a circulatory support device or heading home after a heart transplant can be a scary and difficult experience for children and their family members. CHOP’s child life experts and social workers support patients and their families. Our team will provide your family with education and training to make a smooth transition and give you the skills you need to care for your child at home.

We can also help you address practical matters, such as dealing with the financial issues related to transplant and follow-up care. Our team will support you every step of the way.