Inova Congenital Cardiology Program Offers Full Spectrum of Care

For more than 30 years, Inova has provided specialized care to children with congenital heart disease (CHD) through Inova Children’s Heart Center. An adult program launched in 1994 to give pediatric CHD patients a seamless transition to continue under our care. The program provides a medical home with expert care for young adults managing their CHD independently of their parents for the first time and for adults newly diagnosed with CHD or new to Inova.

As more children are surviving CHD and reaching adulthood, the number of adult patients with CHD in Europe and North America is now double the number of pediatric patients. It is estimated that in the DC region, alone, there are 150,000 adults living with CHD – which speaks to the demand for clinical programs designed specifically for their needs.

“While adults with CHD need different care than children with CHD,  it’s not uncommon for them to receive treatment at a pediatric facility specializing in congenital heart defects but not in the unique aspects of adult care,” said IHVI Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Medical Director and cardiologist Anurag Sahu, MD.

“We believe that the care of moderate to complex ACHD patients is best served in an ACHD center that provides comprehensive care, education and access to a multidisciplinary team of specialists in ACHD as well as specialists in other related adult care areas,” said Dr. Sahu. “This model is best leveraged in an adult hospital setting where all appropriate non-cardiac services are present as well as advanced adult cardiac services. ”

IHVI’s ACHD Program includes outpatient and inpatient services and cares for patients with simple to complex heart lesions as well as those with advanced CHD-related heart failure. The program also cares for CHD patients with heart rhythm disorders, pulmonary vascular disease and expecting moms with CHD. In addition, the program offers procedures for complex heart rhythms, catheter-based interventional procedures including valve replacement, and, when needed, cardiac surgery for ACHD patients, including transplantation.

“One of our program’s unique offerings is structural interventions for CHD,” noted Dr. Sahu. “With our adult and pediatric interventional cardiologists working together on complex structural interventions, ACHD patients get the best possible outcomes.”

The pediatric and congenital heart surgery program recently added a third pediatric cardiac surgeon, James St. Louis, MD, FACC, FACS, who joined Inova with more than 20 years of experience and will serve as Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Co-Director of Inova Children’s Heart Center. He has specialized expertise in advanced heart failure therapies for children as well as neonatal heart differences.

“I’m excited to be part of the Inova team,” said Dr. St. Louis. “The integration and alignment of services here creates a patient-centric, family-friendly culture and demonstrates Inova’s commitment to cardiac health. I look forward to helping build on that vision to help in becoming a top program in congenital heart nationally.”

“We can diagnose congenital heart disease in utero and treat the patient throughout childhood, in the teenage years and long into adulthood – from the same campus,” said Lucas Collazo, MD, Surgical Director of the ACHD Program at IHVI.

“We are uniquely positioned to care for whole families,” said Mitchell Cohen, MD, a pediatric and adult congenital electrophysiologist and Co-Director of Inova Children’s Heart Center. “Having Inova Women’s Hospital and Inova L.J. Murphy Children’s Hospital in the same building represents the essence of our collaboration. If we suspect a fetus has a congenital heart defect, experienced pediatric cardiac surgeons and pediatric cardiologists are in the same tower, so mom and baby can stay in the same location and get the required cardiac care. Similarly, when we identify children or adults with heritable genetic conditions, family members can work with the same genetic counselor throughout testing. And, if they are diagnosed with an abnormality,  we can provide the most current treatment strategies.. That’s pretty incredible.”

Learn more about Inova’s Congenital Heart Disease Program’s seamless care for patients with congenital heart disease from birth through adulthood.