Congenital Heart

Congenital heart defects are problems with the heart's structure that are present at birth, and they are the most common birth defects. A baby's heart is completely formed by eight weeks into pregnancy, and congenital heart defects happen during this crucial time in the baby's development. Our team of specialists at Wolfson Children’s Hospital provides subspecialty clinics that diagnose and treat a number of heart defects in infants and children.

Adult Congenital Heart Center

The Adult Congenital Heart Center is a collaborative program of Wolfson Children’s Hospital and UF& Shands (The University of Florida Health System). Baptist is the home to the Jacksonville location of this program of the University of Florida Heart Institute.

Interestingly, the number of adults living with congenital heart disease (CHD) is now greater than the number of babies born with CHD. This is a direct result of the advances in diagnostic procedures and treatment interventions. And, thanks to advances in heart care and developing technologies, nearly every form of congenital heart disease in adults can be treated or managed with the expectation of a good outcome.

Congenital Heart Outpatient Care

State-of-the-art outpatient care includes non-interventional and interventional diagnosis and treatment options:

• Cardiac catheterization, featuring advanced digital technology that significantly enhances the quality of images for the most accurate diagnosis and treatment
• Pre-catheterization procedures
• Echocardiography, including transthoracic, fetal, intracardiac, and transesophageal echocardiography for diagnostics, as well as guidance of interventions
• Electrophysiology, using specialized equipment to repair the heart’s electrical system without surgery

Congenital Heart Surgery

The cardiovascular surgeons associated with our collaborative Adult Congenital Heart program have expertise in a full range of open-heart, minimally invasive and video-assisted surgeries, as well as adult heart transplant surgery. Heart defects treated by this team include

• Atrial septal defects
• Ventricular septal defects
• Hypoplastic left heart syndrome
• Transposition of the great arteries
• Aortic and mitral valve disease
• Total anomalous pulmonary venous return
• Tetralogy of Fallot
• Atrioventricular canal defects
• Double-outlet RV
• Coarctation of the aorta
• Truncus arteriosus
• Single ventricle palliation
• Ebstein’s anomaly
• Vascular rings