Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

If your child has a heart problem, our specialists review all of the available options to determine the best treatment for your child's heart problem before surgery is considered. Many children are candidates for minimally invasive surgery—an approach that requires only small incisions, and allows for a faster return to normal activities. In other cases, traditional open-heart surgery is the best option for successful treatment.

The pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons work closely with the pediatric cardiologists, pediatric intensivists, anesthesiologists, surgical nurse practitioners, child life specialists, patient care coordinators, nurses, and a wide group of allied professionals to provide the best quality of care for the patients and their families.

While in the hospital, patients are cared for in a state of the art Pediatric Cardiac Care Center (PCCC). On the floor above, there is a special Ronald McDonald House to accommodate parents of the most critically ill children, as well as a larger house that is within walking distance of the hospital. Special attention is given to families during this stressful time of surgery, and every effort is made to have parents be with their child as much as possible during the hospital stay.

George M. Alfieris, M.D.

Dr. George M. Alfieris, nationally recognized pediatric cardiac surgeon, is Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at the Golisano Children's Hospital and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Types of Congenital Heart Surgery

• Reparative
  • Repairing or closing ventricular or atrial septal defects and atrioventricular valves
  • Stretching or widening the pulmonic valve and closing a ventricular septal defect to correct Tetralogy of the Fallot
  • Moving the great arteries and coronary arteries back to their normal position to cure transposition of the great arteries
  • Widening a narrow aorta to treat coarctation
• Palliative
  • Blalock-Taussig procedure—A tube is inserted to connect the aorta to the pulmonary artery to increase the flow of blood to the lungs.
  • Fontan procedure—This procedure helps patients with a single ventricle by allowing deoxygenated blood flow into the lungs and avoiding the heart. The one heart ventricle then pumps oxygenated blood.
  • Pulmonary artery band—A band is placed around the pulmonary artery in order to restrict the flow of blood to the lungs.