Pediatric Heart Center

The MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) Heart Center provides comprehensive, state-of-the-art diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment, and long-term follow-up care for infants, children, and adolescents with all types of acquired and congenital cardiac conditions, including the most complex and/or rare congenital disorders.

Family-Centered Care and the Extensive Resources of Massachusetts General Hospital

As a separate, but fully integrated, part of Massachusetts General Hospital—a pioneer and leader in the treatment and research of cardiac disease—the MGHfC Heart Center offers patients and their families the best of both worlds, including:

• Comprehensive, family-centered cardiac care provided by a highly experienced, multidisciplinary team of board-certified pediatric cardiac specialists who are focused exclusively on the needs of pediatric patients and their families
• Seamless transition of care from before birth throughout childhood, adolescence, and all stages of adulthood in a single setting, which helps ensure optimal, long-term outcomes
• Minimally invasive approaches to treatment
• Physician care provided only by senior-level attendings, who follow patients throughout the entire course of their treatment
• Access to the vast services, advanced technologies, clinical trials, and expertise of virtually all pediatric and adult specialists and subspecialists throughout Massachusetts General Hospital

All of this—and much more—is provided within the family-friendly setting of a pediatric “hospital within a hospital.” The MGHfC Heart Center provides outpatient services in the beautiful new Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care and many other convenient locations in Massachusetts. Inpatient care is provided in spacious, up-to-date units that were specifically designed to appeal to children and meet the unique needs of pediatric patients and their families.

Patients undergoing diagnosis and treatment at the MGHfC Heart Center also benefit from having access to all the advanced technologies available at Mass General—technologies that, in some cases, might not otherwise be available to pediatric patients.

The MGHfC Heart Center’s size fosters a sense of intimacy that is very reassuring to both parents and children, and encourages close communication among the multidisciplinary specialists involved in each child’s care, including referring physicians.

Our commitment to clinical excellence, combined with our focus on understanding and addressing the unique needs of each patient and family, is one of the reasons parents are usually highly satisfied with the care their child has received at the MGHfC Heart Center.

A Multidisciplinary Team

The cornerstone of the MGHfC Heart Center is our closely knit multidisciplinary team of physicians and other pediatric care providers, who work collaboratively to provide personalized care for each patient.

This team includes not only highly experienced board-certified pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, all of whom are on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, but also cardiac anesthesiologists, nurses, intensivists, a physician assistant, social workers, child-life specialists, case managers, chaplains, dietitians, and others. All of these dedicated professionals specialize in the management of pediatric patients.

A physician member of this team communicates regularly and works collaboratively with the referring physician and patient’s family to ensure that each child’s care is well-coordinated, whether the patient is an inpatient, outpatient, or back at home. We understand the important role of referring physicians in the patient’s and family’s life, and eagerly return patients to their care as quickly as possible.

While every member of the patient’s care team is vitally important, we are especially proud of our pediatric nurses, whose dedication and expertise helped make Mass General a Magnet Hospital—the state’s first—which is the highest honor for nursing excellence.

Seamless Care from Before Birth Throughout Adulthood

The Heart Center offers a comprehensive range of services to meet the unique needs of each patient and family from before birth and continuing — uninterrupted and in the same setting— throughout childhood and adulthood.

Through regular, interdisciplinary meetings and close collaboration, all of these services are seamlessly integrated so that each patient’s care is always well-coordinated and the patient’s family and referring physicians are kept well-informed.