Center for Congenital Heart Disease Utrecht, part of the University Medical Center Utrecht examines and treats patients with congenital heart disease. Within this center the so called Kinderhartcentrum (Child Heart Center) of the WKZ focuses on children where the GUCH-center (Grown Ups with Congenital Heartdisease) focuses on (young) adults.
The pediatric cardiothoracic surgical department
We treat the full spectrum of pathologies in congenital heart defects, varying from a small interventricular hole (Ventricle Septum Defect, VSD) to severe heart defects like a Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) that needs surgery in the first week of life. In the WKZ there is special expertise for defects with 1 functional ventricle.
Interesting…
Currently we perform about 150-180 open heart surgery procedures with use of CardioPulmonary Bypass (CPB) per year.
We are responsible for all extracorporeal circulation procedures and the technical support in postcardiotomy ExtraCorporeal Life Support (ECLS) in the WKZ.
Surgical procedures such as aortic arch reconstructions, ASD/VSD repairs and other biventricular repairs as well as univentricular repairs are performed in children as small as 2 kg or less.
Special techniques like Modified UltraFiltration (MUF) after extracorporeal circulation, antegrade cerebral perfusion and selective myocardial perfusion during procedures with deep hypothermic systemic circulatory arrest are used by default. In all our cases we use inline blood gas monitoring and Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) for monitoring cerebral oximetry. Autotransfusion is used if indicated.
The WKZ perfusionists also participate in research. The WKZ joined and started including patients in the Nitric Oxide Study, which is now the largest randomized controlled trial in pediatric cardiac surgery worldwide.
