(For more details click "Heart Surgery Information for Parents")

Heart surgery, especially when it concerns a newborn or small child, is a combination of immense technical skill, ingenuity, compassion and endless patience. This applies to the surgical procedure and equally, at times, to the difficult days after the operation. The surgical team of The Heart Institute for Children, under the direction of Dr. Michel Ilbawi, takes these issues to heart with greatest dedication. Before a patient is scheduled for a procedure, Dr. Ilbawi will meet with the parents to discuss options, procedures and risk.

This surgical program specializes in the surgical treatment of congenital and acquired heart disease. It is the largest surgical program in Metropolitan Chicago. Our surgical services are located at Hope Children's Hospital (THIC Metropolitan South), Lutheran General Pediatric Hospital (THIC Metropolitan North), and the University of Illinois-Chicago (THIC Metropolitan City). The program gives particular care to the newborn child with complex heart problems.

We perform approximately 400 surgical procedures per year, most of which are open heart operations using the heart-lung machine. Except for the most serious heart malformations, the hospital stay is less than 5 days and the mortality (risk of death) is close to zero.

With great advances in heart surgery, most children with heart disease grow up to lead a normal life. However, with some heart problems we cannot make the heart completely normal. These patients require repeat operations during adult life. Such procedures are best done by a surgical team fully familiar with these specialized techniques and that is a congenital heart surgery team. For that reason, a significant percentage of our patients are actually adults, in spite of our name The Heart Institute for Children.