Heart Institute

At the CHOC Heart Institute, we understand it may be overwhelming to learn your child has been referred to a heart specialist, a pediatric heart surgeon or has been newly diagnosed with a heart condition. That is why we have assembled a mighty brigade of experts dedicated to caring for children and teens, whether they may be healthy or seriously ill.

Our highly specialized and board-certified pediatric cardiology team and cardiothoracic surgeons provide patients and families with comprehensive care for congenital and acquired heart disease, new symptoms that may be related to the heart, pediatric heart surgery and advanced cardiac services.

Children are not small adults and their health care needs, especially cardiac concerns, should be diagnosed and treated by specialists who understand the needs of children. We are dedicated to providing the least invasive, most advanced treatment for heart-related problems in children. Each patient’s care team includes physicians with specialized cardiac training, pediatric cardiac nurse practitioners, bedside nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers and child life specialists who together provide seamless care, patient education and family support, as well as opportunities for the child to play, discover and create.

The CHOC Difference

• CHOC and UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital combine expertise to offer a joint congenital heart program at two sites for families in Southern California.
• We are the only Orange County hospital to perform neonatal and pediatric open-heart surgery and catheterization.
• CHOC provides the least invasive, most advanced cardiodiagnostic services available for heart-related problems in children.
• A dedicated cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) with the most advanced bedside monitoring equipment available.
• A cardiac NICU for newborns with congenital heart disease, including those complicated by prematurity, low birth weight or multi-organ disease.
• The only Orange County hospital to offer 24/7 extracorporeal life support (ECLS), or ECMO, for children who have sudden cardiac arrest.
• CHOC offers the only comprehensive fetal cardiology services in Orange County.
• CHOC uses only specially trained and board-certified pediatric cardiac intensivists, cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, interventionalists and anesthesiologists to care for your child.
• CHOC offers one of the few dedicated pediatric electrophysiology (EP) programs in the region.
• Our state-of-the-art catheterization lab is one of the largest in Southern California and offers minimally invasive diagnostic catheterization techniques and electrophysiology studies.
• CHOC has one of the largest pediatric pacemaker and internal cardiac defibrillator programs in the region, and work with patients and families throughout Southern California and beyond.
• CHOC was the first hospital in the United States to perform radiation-free electrophysiological studies and cardiac catheter ablation.