Heart Surgery

When your child needs heart surgery, you want the most advanced care available: the top surgeons, the safest techniques and the least invasive options. At CHOC, in affiliation with UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, that is what we offer. From the first diagnosis through recovery and follow-up care, we’ll guide your child toward a stronger, healthier future.

Our team offers the latest in pediatric cardiac surgical techniques to repair congenital heart defects in patients of all ages, along with advanced cardiac imaging, state-of-the-art catheterization labs, and a dedicated cardiovascular intensive care unit.

Every week, our combined teams review each child’s case individually and build a plan of care, because no two hearts are alike. We are the only facility in Orange County performing newborn and pediatric open-heart surgery, and our team helped bring heart-lung bypass technology (ECMO) to infants for the first time.

CHOC and UCLA Health together have been ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation for Cardiology & Heart Surgery by U.S. News & World Report. Learn more

Heart Surgery Procedures

We offer a full range of surgical procedures to correct congenital heart defects including:

• Aortic stenosis
• Arterial switch for transposition of the great arteries (vessels)
• Atrial septal defect
• Atrioventricular (AV) canal defect
• Coarctation of the aorta
• Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS)
• Patent ductus arteriosus
• Pulmonary atresia 
• Pulmonary stenosis
• Tetralogy of Fallot
• Truncus arteriosus
• Ventricular septal defect.

 10 Questions To Ask If Your Child Needs Heart Surgery

We work with each child’s family to come up with a surgical treatment plan that not only takes into consideration the child’s current health needs, but those in the future. Learn more about heart valve repair and replacement surgery.

Leaders in Quality, Safety and Innovation

Our cardiothoracic surgeons lead our Extracorporeal Life Support program, which has been designated as a Center of Excellence and at the highest level by the International Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO). The ECLS program provides life-saving technology to neonates through adolescents with heart and/or lung failure.

For more than a decade, CHOC has been a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) National Database, an international benchmarking organization that sets the highest standards for hospitals performing heart surgery. CHOC was among the first 15 institutions to join the registry and report surgical outcome data. Today, there are more than 130 premiere hospitals in the STS database.

CHOC has long been a leader in cardiac surgical care. Our team was instrumental in the development of new systems used to protect children’s hearts during surgery and improve heart-lung machine technology. We worked with bioengineers at Quest Medical to develop techniques and instruments that could be used to bring cardiopulmonary bypass technology to children and infants, previously available only for adults. CHOC was the first institution to offer this lifesaving technology that is now used in more than 60 institutions around the globe.