A hybrid procedure combines the skills of pediatric cardiac surgeons and pediatric interventional cardiologists (heart catheterization experts) in one procedure, addressing the child's problem in the most effective and minimally invasive way possible. In 2011, the Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) opened one of the first pediatric hybrid catheter labs in New York City.
Advantages of Hybrid Procedures
Our special catheter suite allows for minimally invasive hybrid procedures that were not possible until recently, offering sophisticated therapeutic techniques to all children. By combining the skills of interventionalists, surgeons, echocardiographers and anesthesiologists, a patient's evaluations, diagnoses and treatment are done at the same time and under one anesthetic. "This collaboration allows us to perform all the required procedures for a child at one time," notes Robert H. Pass, MD, Director, Pediatric Interventional Cardiology, CHAM. "We can work quickly and effectively using both surgical and interventional cardiology."
Collaboration between surgical and interventional cardiology makes hybrid procedures possible. In 2006, the CHAM team became the first in New York State to use such innovative hybrid techniques to treat a baby born with a complex form of single-ventricle, hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). Samuel Weinstein, MD, Director, Pediatric Surgery, CHAM, adds, "Recently, Montefiore successfully treated a newborn baby with a complex form of congenital heart disease that traditionally carries a 90 percent mortality, using hybrid palliation." Babies once considered too small for open-heart surgery are now able to undergo a heart repair by using this hybrid approach.
Advantages of the hybrid procedure include removing the need for arresting the heart and eliminating the use of cardiopulmonary bypass or heart-lung machine. It also reduces the impact of cardiac surgery and the length of stay in the hospital.
First Hybrid Catheter Lab in the New York Region
CHAM's new hybrid catheter lab is a modernized facility equipped with state-of-the-art technology. One of the first of its kind in the tri-state area, CHAM's hybrid catheter lab features:
- Electro-anatomic 3D arrhythmia mapping system: This cutting-edge technology helps our cardiologists pinpoint and eliminate complex heartbeat irregularities.
- The most advanced 3D echocardiography technology: Our echocardiography technology creates detailed images of your child's beating heart, viewable from every conceivable angle.
- Generous facilities: The spacious catheter lab provides comfort to patients and a large working area for surgeons and interventionalists so they can deliver the highest quality treatment to your child or teen.
- Highest patient safety standards: CHAM upholds the highest possible patient safety standards for each and every heart procedure, including hybrid correction of hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and implantation of pacemakers and defibrillators.