Surgery for congenital heart defects
PD Dr. Alexander Horke
There are currently almost 300,000 patients in Germany with a congenital heart defect. This most common form of congenital malformation affects 1% of all newborns. With over 40 years of experience, the MHH is one of the most renowned German Clinical Departments in the field of pediatric heart surgery. Thanks to this long-standing expertise, we can point to a high success rate in the treatment of all cardiac surgical conditions, from simple septal defects to hypoplastic ventricles.
We have:
- Operated on complex heart defects with aortic disease as a single-stage procedure (= complete correction as part of a single operation) in infancy,
- performed gentle hybrid interventions together with interventional cardiologists,
- In addition to the proven implants of tissue-engineered aortic and pulmonary valves, tissue-engineered vascular material is also used for congenital vascular diseases.
Special attention is also paid to adult patients with congenital heart defects (EMAH patients). Due to medical progress, almost 90% of EMAH patients now reach adulthood and then require specialist further care. These EMAH patients in particular benefit from the close cooperation with the various specialist departments at MHH and the comprehensive care and therapy options, including artificial heart implantation and transplantation.
Main areas of treatment
- Early surgical corrections in infancy
- Treatment of hypoplastic right or left heart syndrome
- Reconstructive valve and aortic arch surgery
- Late corrections and treatment of re-, residual and secondary defects in adults with congenital heart defects
- Implantation of tissue-engineered heart valves
- Implantation of antibradycardic, antitachycardic and resynchronization pacemakers
- Installation of organ replacement procedures for heart and lung failure (ECMO) or implantation of artificial hearts
- Heart, lung and heart-lung transplantation