WHY: Nearly one in 100 children is born with a heart defect, making it one of the most common congenital defects affecting children. The Cardiac Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is a comprehensive center for the care of infants, children and young adults with congenital and acquired heart disease. It is ranked as the best pediatric cardiology program in the United States by Child magazine.
HOW: Although the sessions are in New Orleans, you may schedule a phone interview with Drs. Gaynor, Shah or Fishbein by contacting Erin McDermott at Children's Hospital, at 267-426-6071.
Featured Presentations:
Sunday, Nov. 7, 2004
"Genetic Factors are Important Determinants of Neurodevelopmental Outcome after Repair of Tetralogy of Fallot"
Poster from Neuro-Cardiac Research Program, Children's Hospital
As survival rates have dramatically increased for newborns undergoing surgery for life-threatening heart conditions, doctors have focused on improving longer-term outcomes, such as cognitive and motor development. An ongoing program at Children's Hospital studies how genetic variations influence a child's neurological outcome following heart surgery. This study found that children with a heart defect called tetralogy of Fallot were more likely to have worse neurological outcomes following surgery if they also had a genetic syndrome or a particular variant of a gene. Children with tetralogy of Fallot are born with multiple abnormal heart structures. Even with the heart defect, children without genetic syndromes ten
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Contact: Erin McDermott
McDermotte@email.chop.edu
267-426-6071
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
9-Nov-2004