In clinical care and research, the divisions of Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery and Cardiac Critical Care work together to move the field forward. Our volumes and spectrum of care, from fetal cardiology through all aspects of pediatric cardiac care to a robust program for adults with congenital heart disease, provide Phoenix Children’s an enviable position to be a national leader in research.
This breadth and depth of services, combined with productive relationships with regional and national partners, fosters a climate ripe for innovation through translational research. Our efforts embrace collaborative and independent research to improve care for today’s patients while changing the outlook for tomorrow.
Cardiology Research
The Phoenix Children’s Division of Cardiology has a fundamental commitment to research that goes hand in hand with our dedication to excellence in clinical care across our subspecialties. The cardiology group currently has over 50 active studies, including partnerships with industry, national and regional collaboratives, and local investigator-initiated efforts.
Research Collaboratives
The Division of Cardiology has active research partnerships with local, national and international collaboratives, including the Fetal Heart Society, the Pediatric Heart Transplant Society and the ACTION Learning Network.
Fetal Cardiology Research
This national study seeks to identify risk factors for developing complete heart block in the fetus. We hope to treat this potentially devastating heart problem with early, reliable detection to prevent progression and allow safe development to term.
General Cardiology Research
Physicians at Phoenix Children’s report their pioneering experience using a device designed for adults with heart failure in pediatric patients with complex congenital heart disease. Physicians mirror the experience in adults and use the device to better manage children with complicated diseases. This includes single ventricle heart disease without hospital admissions. It may also decrease the need for additional invasive testing.
Heart Transplant Research
The Phoenix Children’s Heart Transplant team has pioneered volume-based donor-recipient heart size matching in pediatric heart transplants. Traditional size matching has been solely based on donor and recipient body weights. These updated techniques, which compare the actual size of the donor and recipient hearts, allow centers to expand the potential number of acceptable donors for children waiting for a heart transplant. This approach can shorten wait times and save lives.
Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Team
The ACHD team at Phoenix Children’s participated in this national study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, that describes the outcomes for adults with these complicated forms of heart disease who undergo heart or heart-liver transplant.
Additional Research
- Pioneering the use of cell-free DNA to improve non-invasive surveillance for rejection in heart transplant recipients
- Early detection of risk factors for a dangerous arrhythmia in the developing fetus (complete heart block) to try to improve treatments allowing the fetus to develop to term
- Determining the best way to assess liver disease in patients with single ventricle heart disease
- Improving the treatment options in adolescents with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Cardiothoracic Surgery Research
Our team of surgeons, clinical surgical fellows, cardiac research fellows and advanced practice providers perform over 550 cardiac operations every year. The Cardiothoracic Surgery team has performed more than 160 heart transplants to date. Working with national collaboratives, regional partners and colleagues throughout Phoenix Children’s, the group has made numerous active efforts to improve our understanding of the surgical management of patients with cardiac disease.
Research Collaboratives
As active participants in multiple studies supported by the Congenital Heart Surgeons’ Society, our research teams are exploring best practices for a myriad of complex forms of congenital heart disease.
Additional Research
This retrospective study, accepted for presentation at the annual American Association of Thoracic Surgery (AATS) meeting, characterized outcomes for young pediatric patients who underwent mitral valve replacement, mainly using Melody and Sapien 3 valves, over six years. Results showed successful use of such valves, even in very young patients, demonstrating their potential as alternatives to conventional methods.
An abstract for the AATS annual meeting explored the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients diagnosed with a vascular ring anomaly. The study showed that vascular ring anomaly is more common among patients with genetic anomalies. Surgical repair tended to have a good prognosis, with overall high survival and freedom from reintervention.
This published retrospective study reviewed charts of pediatric patients who underwent congenital heart surgery and routine viral testing to examine whether viral-positive patients experienced worse outcomes within 30 days of surgery. Findings demonstrated that patients who were viral positive and symptomatic had longer postoperative stays and intubation times than asymptomatic patients.
Cardiac Critical Care Research
The Phoenix Children’s Division of Cardiac Critical Care team includes skilled physicians and advanced practice providers. Our Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) is a 36-bed unit including 12 step-down beds. Each year, we admit more than 1,000 patients and perform more than 275 cardiopulmonary bypass cases of all complexities. Additionally, our CVICU is the fulcrum of our busy heart failure/heart transplant program, performing about 15 transplants a year. We also care for patients with a wide variety of extracorporeal cardiac assist devices, from Berlin LVADs to Total Artificial Hearts. We provide cutting-edge clinical care and both lead and participate in groundbreaking research at the local, national and international levels.
Recent Research Activities
This published study describes peritoneal catheter use after STAT category 3-5 neonatal cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass. The manuscript highlights variability in use amongst its participating centers but shows fairly consistent health outcomes.
This retrospective multicenter cohort study, published in Critical Care Medicine, sought to determine the association of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) with survival to hospital discharge in pediatric patients with a noncardiac illness. The study did not find a significant association between ECPR and survival rates but saw an overall increase in ECPR use over the last 20 years.
This multicenter study of patients with cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CS-AKI) who underwent stage 1 palliation (S1P) sought to characterize perioperative associations between CS-AKI and morbidity and mortality. For high-risk patients, there was an association between severe CS-AKI and greater odds of mortality. Improving the precision for defining clinically relevant neonatal CS-AKI remains a priority.
This study, published in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, retrospectively assessed the use of nicardipine and nitroprusside for postoperative blood pressure control in infants who underwent surgery for congenital heart disease. Results from this work found that antihypertensive treatment with nicardipine was noninferior to and significantly less expensive than nitroprusside.
This prospective randomized placebo-controlled single-center study evaluates if continuous infusion of ketorolac reduces opiate medication use following congenital heart surgery in infants and children ages 3 months to 4 years 11 months.
This single-center prospective pilot study utilized the Moberg® neurological monitoring system to evaluate brain function and brain blood flow prior to and following the arterial switch operation. We perform this operation in neonates with transposition of the great arteries. This study demonstrated safety and utility of the monitoring platform. It highlighted significant changes in brain activity and blood flow between preoperative and postoperative states in these patients.
Find a Research Study
Patients and families can use the Find a Research Study tool or speak with their child’s doctor to learn about enrollment in current and upcoming clinical research studies at Phoenix Children’s.