Pediatric Heart Failure

Ochsner Children's Hospital is the only comprehensive heart failure and heart transplant program in Louisiana that can deliver all services to take care of a patient in heart failure. The team of experts at Ochsner Children's Hospital have been performing pediatric heart transplants for more than 30 years.

The heart transplantation team’s goal is to allow kids to live a normal life safely as possible after a heart transplant. Children have many different reasons why they may need a heart transplant. It can be due to being born with an abnormal heart muscle, congenital heart disease that cannot be improved by surgery, or a virus that infects the heart muscle and makes it weak.

Ochsner Children's Hospital provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to treating patients. The Ochsner Children's Hospital team collaborates with child life services, palliative care, psychology and nutritional services to provide care to patients and families during this difficult time. Financial support is also available to families who qualify. Meet the team:

• Thomas Young, MD
• Benjamin Peeler, MD
• David Greenhouse, MD
• Kathyrn Smiley, PA
• Victor Lucas, MD
• Ivory Crittendon, MD
• Clifton Mixon, MD
• Megan Lanier, PA
• Jessica Gremillion, transplant coordinator
• Danielle Terry, transplant coordinator
• Claire Walley, transplant pharmacist

There are multiple reasons why a pediatric patient may need a heart transplant. The conditions the pediatric heart failure team at Ochsner Children's Hospital treats include:

• Dilated cardiomyopathy: The heart’s main chamber becomes bigger and weaker, so it doesn’t pump blood as well as it should.
• Myocarditis: Swelling in the heart muscle makes it work harder to keep blood moving through the body.
• Congenital heart disease: These are heart problems present from birth that affect how the heart functions.
• Restrictive cardiomyopathy: The heart muscle gets stiff, making it tough for the heart to fill up with blood between beats.
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: The heart muscle grows thicker than normal, which can make it harder for the heart to pump blood out.
• Ischemic heart disease: This happens when blood flow to the heart is limited by narrowed arteries, which can reduce the heart’s strength.

The services offered for pediatric patients include:

• Invasive and non-invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures
• Inotrope support
• Electrophysiology therapy
• Short- and long-term mechanical circulatory support devices
• Cutting-edge surgical procedures
• Innovative cardiac rehabilitation
• Ongoing disease management education in both inpatient and outpatient settings
• Heart transplant
• Psychological support

A ventricular assist device is a mechanical pump that can be implanted in either the left or right chamber of the heart. It helps the chamber to pump blood to the body. The types of ventricular assist devices used at Ochsner include:

• Berlin Heart
• HeartMate 3
• HVAD
• Pedimag
• Centrimag