When the heart or blood vessels near the heart do not develop normally before birth, a condition called congenital heart disease occurs (congenital means "existing at birth"). Heart defects are the most common type of birth defect, occurring in one out of every 120 live births. Most are detected at birth, but sometimes they do not present symptoms until adulthood.
Inova's highly specialized physicians offer care to newborns and children with congenital heart disease. Care can continue at Inova through adulthood since even when defects are repaired during infancy or childhood, people born with congenital heart problems need to be carefully followed as adults.
Because of the success of pediatric cardiac care teams over the past decades, there is now a population of adults alive today who previously may not have survived childhood. Inova's Congenital Heart Disease Program started in 1994 as one of the country's first programs to care for congenital heart disease patients. Today, our team of specialized physicians continues to care for patients in every stage of congenital heart disease. We offer the only program in Northern Virginia with continuity of care for infants, children, newly diagnosed adults and adults who were treated for congenital heart disease in childhood.
While most congenital heart defects are present at birth, around 10% of people with congenital heart disease don't have symptoms until adulthood. Even when defects are repaired during infancy or childhood, people born with congenital heart problems may continue to have cardiac issues requiring follow-up care by a cardiologist throughout their lives.
Inova's adult and pediatric specialists collaborate to offer this unique population a seamless continuity of care with our full breadth of cardiovascular services including cardiac imaging, cardiac surgery, advanced heart failure, arrhythmia management and pulmonary hypertension programs.
Areas of specialization include:
Pediatric congenital cardiac catheterization
Cardiac surgeons and interventional cardiologists perform advanced minimally invasive procedures to treat congenital heart defects. Some of these include repairing coarctation of the aorta, atrial septal defect closure, stenting and catheter-based pulmonary valve replacement.
Pediatric congenital electrophysiology
Electrophysiologists who are specialized in the management of children with congenital heart disease treat all types of arrhythmias. Inova Children’s Heart Center’s electrophysiology program offers expert care for pediatric heart rhythm disorders, including ablation, pacemakers, genetic screening and fetal arrhythmia monitoring, with a 97% success rate.
Maternal-fetal medicine
Inova's high-risk obstetric specialists manage women with congenital heart disease during pregnancy. The team also cares for women carrying babies with suspected congenital heart disease including specialized care for the mother and baby during labor and delivery, as well as postnatal care of the newborn.
Expert care and collaboration
In addition to caring for adults, we also have a separate children's heart surgery program at Inova, making us one of only a few hospitals in the country that cares for both populations.
Because we handle congenital heart disease in all stages, from birth to adulthood, we have a thorough understanding of the natural history of the disease and the techniques necessary to intervene with surgery at different points in time.
Physicians who are experienced with adult congenital heart disease include general cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists and vascular surgeons.
Meet our team
The only one in Northern Virginia
The Inova Children’s Heart Center was one of the first programs in the country designed to care for this special patient population. Today, it remains the only center of its kind in Northern Virginia.
Tailored to each patient
- Adult congenital heart disease: medical and surgical management
- Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA): surgical repair
- Anomalous pulmonary veins: surgical repair
- Aortic valve disease: percutaneous management and surgical repair
- Aortic and mitral atresia: Norwood procedure, hybrid bilateral pulmonary artery banding and patent ductus arteriosus stenting
- Aortopulmonary window: percutaneous and surgical repair
- Arrhythmia surgery
- Arterial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries
- Atrial septal defects: device closure in the cardiac catheterization suite and surgical repair
- Atrial isomerism and heterotaxy syndrome: single ventricle and biventricular repair
- Atrioventricular canal: surgical repair
- Cardiac tumors: surgical resection
- Cardiomyopathy: medical management with possibility of mechanical support
- Coarctation of the aorta: surgical repair using various surgical techniques
- Complex congenital heart disease
- Congenital coronary artery anomalies: surgical repair by unroofing or reimplantation
- Congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries: double switch procedure (arterial switch and Mustard’s atrial switch procedures) or Mustard-Rastelli operation
- Coronary fistula: percutaneous cardiac catheter coiling or surgical ligation
- Cortriatriatum: surgical resection
- Double outlet right ventricle: surgical repair
- Ebstein’s anomaly: cone procedure and other types of tricuspid valve repair, tricuspid valve replacement
- Genetic heart diseases: including Marfan syndrome and Loyes Dietz syndrome associated aortopathy: valve-sparing aortic root replacement
- Heterotaxy syndrome: complex intracardiac reconstruction for biventricular repair or single ventricle repair
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: medical management or surgical resection of subaortic stenosis due to hypertrophied septum
- Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS): Norwood procedure with Sano shunt or systemic to pulmonary shunt, selective use of hybrid bilateral pulmonary artery banding and stenting of patent ductus arteriosus
- Interrupted aortic arch: surgical repair
- Marfan syndrome: valve-sparing aortic root replacement
- Mitral valve disease: mitral valve repair with or without a ring, mitral valve replacement
- Myocarditis acute and chronic: medical management, ventricular mechanical support
- Patent ductus arteriosus: percutaneous device closure by cardiac catheterization, surgical closure
- Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO): percutaneous device closure by cardiac catheterization and surgical closure
- Pulmonary atresia, with and without VSD
- Pulmonary artery stenosis: percutaneous ballooning or stenting, surgical repair
- Pulmonary stenosis: percutaneous ballooning or surgical repair
- Pulmonary hypertension: medical management
- Pulmonary valve disease: percutaneous and surgical management options
- Pulmonary vein stenosis: percutaneous and surgical management options including the sutureless repair technique
- Scimitar syndrome: surgical repair
- Single ventricle: specialized clinic and management group, surgical palliation with bidirectional Glenn and Fontan procedures
- Subaortic membrane: surgical resection, modified Konno and Konno procedures
- Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF): surgical repair
- Total anomalous pulmonary venous return/connection: surgical repair
- Transposition of the great arteries: surgical repair with arterial switch operation
- Tricuspid atresia: surgical staged palliation with shunt or pulmonary artery banding, followed by bidirectional Glenn and Fontan procedures
- Truncus arteriosus: surgical repair
- Vascular ring: surgical repair
- Ventricular inversion: surgical repair
- Ventricular septal defects: surgical repair
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