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Services Offered
Cardiac surgical program: Newborn heart surgery, cosmetic congenital heart surgery, surgery for complex heart defects.
Catheter interventions including closure of common heart defects without surgery (ASD, PDA and VSD), newborn interventions, interventions to complement surgery.
Comprehensive imaging and diagnostic services: Echocardiography (trans thoracic, 3D echocardiography, trans-esophageal and fetal echocardiography), Multi-slice CT scan (64 slice CT), MRI for congenital heart defects (AIMS has the country's first cardiac MRI service), diagnostic cardiac catheterization and angiography.
Fetal cardiac unit: A comprehensive fetal cardiac program (the only one of its kind in the country) is available at AIMS. The services include prenatal diagnosis and counseling of pregnant mothers with suspected heart defect in the fetus, prenatal treatment for fetuses with cardiac rhythm disorders.
Facilities
Dedicated operation roomswith facilities for newborn, infant and complex congenital heart surgery. State-of-the-art monitoring systems including dedicated pediatric trans-esophageal echocardiography are available.
Dedicated State-of-the-Art Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Facilitywith supporting monitors and ventilators, Inhalational Nitric Oxide and facilities for LV assist and extra-corporeal support.
The pediatric cardiac intensive care unit has 24 beds in total, 12 of which are located close to the operation theater.
Equipments
A: Non-invasive
Advanced Pediatric and Fetal echo Lab
Launched in 2008, this lab has 2 Philips IE 33 echo machines exclusively for Pediatric cardiac imaging (2D, 3D, TEE) and Fetal echocardiography. The lab has a work-station with the advanced Q-lab software for offline processing of 3D images, a digital library for image archiving in DVDs, electronic databases of the echo reports.
Additional echo machines
Philips 5500 Echocardiogram machine with three dedicated probes with Pediatric and adult multi-plane TEE probes.
Two portable machines for community based activities
(Siemens Cypress Machines).
Exercise Machines
CPX machine (Exclusively for pediatric work), Treadmill
Arrhythmia and Syncope Evaluation
Head up Tilt Test, Holter
Additional Imaging Equipment Available through the Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Department.
- Siemens multi-slice 64 slice CT scan
- Siemens Sonata: MRI and MR angiography
- Gamma Camera (Siemens)
B: Invasive:
1. Two Siemens Hi-Cor catheterization laboratories (digital flat panel)
2. Comprehensive facility for arrhythmia and pacing
a. Advanced EP laboratory
b. Facilities for implantation and follow up of pacemakers and ICD
3. Electronic databases and digital library of the catheterizatin studies.
Procedures Performed
A. Paediatric Heart Operations :
A strong team of three dedicated full time paediatric cardiac surgeons perform heart operations with results that match international standards. On an average 3-4 operations are performed for children with congenital heart disease every day. The open heart procedures include closure of common heart defects, repair of tetralogy of Fallot, repair of total anomalous pulmonary venous connection, arterial switch operation, the Senning operation, the Fontan procedure (including the extra-cardiac Fontan operation), the Glen procedure and, repair of common AV canal defects. The closed heart procedures include BT shunt, coarctation repair and PDA ligation and interruption.
The highlights of the paediatric cardiac surgical program at AIMS are the excellent outcomes with heart operations in newborns and young infants. Complex defects (such as double outlet right ventricle, multiple ventricular septal defects) are routinely corrected here with excellent results.
B: Catheter Interventions
Closure of many heart defects traditionally need operations for their treatment and often this is an open-heart operation. Today newer developments in cardiac catheterization technology allow closure of selected patients with heart defects without an operation. This avoids the trauma of surgery and allows very rapid recovery. The procedures are performed in the cardiac catheterization laboratory and require no more than a needle prick in the groin. AIMS has leadership status in catheter interventions and several regional, national and international workshops are frequently conducted here for a variety of cardiac defects.
Examples of heart defects that can be closed in the catheter laboratory include:
1. Atrial septal defects (ASD): AIMS has one of the largest experience in trans-catheter ASD device closure in India.
2. Patent Arterial Ducts (PDA): Using cost-effective techniques developed at AIMS over 2000 PDA closures have been performed in the catheterization laboratory at AIMS. This is one of the largest experiences in the World.
3. Ventricular Septal Defects (VSD): The technique as been modified at AIMS to allow closure of some of these defects at reduced cost to the patient.
4. Other Defects: Coronary artery fistula, pulmonary arterio-venous malformation.
Additional procedures performed in the catheter laboratory at AIMS include balloon dilation procedures for valve obstruction at all ages, stenting of coarctation, pulmonary artery and PDA. Recently, we have performed hybrid procedures for complex CHDs like hypoplastic left heart where the surgeon and the cardiologist combine together.
C: Pacemaker implantation in children
Comprehensive facilities for pacemaker therapy in children are available.
D: Paediatric Electrophysiology
Comprehensive EP facility is available at AIMS for children of all ages.
Clinics
Regular Outpatient Clinics
Monday to Saturday - 8.30 AM - 5.00 PM
Sunday - 9 AM -12.00 Noon
All patients undergo comprehensive evaluation and every effort is made to complete the evaluation process including all non-invasive tests and most procedures (surgical or catheter interventions).
Specialty Clinics
1. Fetal cardiac services (Monday – Friday 8.30 AM - 5 PM) initiated in 2008. Provides comprehensive diagnosis and counseling besides inutero treatment for arrhythmias.
2. Paediatric Lifestyle Clinic: This clinic was established in February 2007. The clinic addresses lifestyle related diseases such as childhood obesity and hypertension. The clinic functions on all weekdays.
3. Grown-up congenital heart disease ( GUCH) clinic – to be launched this year. This provides follow-up of children with corrected CHDs into adult life as well as evaluation and treatment of adults with CHDs (like atrial septal defects).
4. Pulmonary hypertension clinic: Our department is one of the nodal centres for the international organization, Pulmonary vascular research institute (PVRI) and this clinic will focus on patients with various forms of pulmonary hypertension.
Outreach Clinics
We have successfully run a outreach program (bi-annual) in Mumbai providing non-invasive pediatric cardiac services. Since 2005, more than 500 patients have been treated so far through this initiative. A similar program is being planned in East India this year on a bi-annual basis. We have also been successfully running an outreach clinic in Kalpetta, Wayanad to cater to patients from areas that are difficult to access.
Telemedicine
Patients from many remote locations can stay in touch with us through advanced telemedicine communication facility. This medium is also used for Webinar transmissions and several distant learning initiatives.
International Collaborations
Children's Heartlink
The paediatric heart program at AIMS has been a partner site for children's heartlink (www.childrensheartlink.org) for over a decade and we are the first among several international sites to acquire the status of a global training site.
Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School.
Collaborations have been initiated between the children's hospital and AIMS. The areas include cardiac MRI, fellowship exchange and clinical research.
International Quality Improvement Collaborative.
The paediatric heart program at AIMS is now a member of the IQIC (an initiative of the Boston Children’s Hospital) and a number of quality improvement processes have been initiated and monitored through this process.
Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford.
Collaborations have been initiated for intensive care and nursing. This has been in the form of frequent visits by leafding Nurse practioners and Dr. Steve Roth, Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care at LPCH.
Government of SriLanka (Sri Lankan College of Paediatrics).
The first three dedicated pediatric cardiologists in Sri Lanka have been trained at AIMS.
Training Overseas Surgeons
The paediatric cardiac surgical program has training facilities for overseas surgeons.
News and Events
November 29, 2011
Pediatric Cardiac Unit performs advanced surgical correction for four children born with defects of the heart in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Read More
November 26, 2010
Amrita performs the state’s first successful Norwood operation to correct a congenital heart defect in a five-day-old baby.
Read More
April 7, 2009
Paper in pediatric cardiology awarded top prize.
Read More
Jan 23, 2009
Dr. R. Krishnakumar co-edits new book on Pulmonary Hypertension published as part of ECAB’s India Clinical Update series in Cardiology.
Read More
Our Doctors
Dr. R. Krishnakumar, MD, DM, FACC, FAHA
Clinical Professor and Head |
Dr. Balu Vaidyanathan, MD, DNB, DM
Clinical Professor |
Dr. Edwin Francis, MD, DNB (Ped.), DM, DNB (Card.)
Clinical Professor |
Dr. Mahesh K., DCH, DNB (Ped.), FNB (Pediatric Card.)
Clinical Associate Professor |
Dr. Shine Kumar K. H., DCH, DNB, FNB (Pediatric Card.)
Clinical Assistant Professor |
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Contact Us
Phone Number: 0484 - 2853570 / 4003570
Email Address: paediatriccardiology@aims.amrita.edu
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