The clinical program of The Heart Institute for Children is the largest Pediatric Cardiology program in Metropolitan Chicago.  Our physicians see approximately 9,000 outpatients per year of which 4,000 are seen at Hope Children’s Hospital, and the rest at our 27 offsite clinics.  Of these, 400 patients undergo various surgical procedures, of which 2/3 are open-heart procedures.  More than 2/3 of the open-heart procedures are done at less than one year of age.  The average length of hospital stay is four days for all but those with complex heart defects.  Surgical mortality for all but the most complex heart lesions is 0.5%. 

More than 300 patients undergo cardiac catheterizations; most of these consist of catheter interventional procedures such as closure of atrial septal defect, closure of patent ductus arteriosus, balloon dilatation of narrow valves, stent placements to correct narrow blood vessels, etc..  Over 4,000 echocardiographic studies are done each year at Hope Children’s Hospital.  Fetal echocardiography to evaluate the status of the fetal heart by ultrasound is done on nearly 1,500 mothers each year.  About 100 patients per year undergo highly-specialized electrophysiologic procedures to analyze heart rhythm abnormalities and undergo ablations to correct abnormal pathways.  Heart pacemakers/defibrillators are also used to manage specific heart rhythm problems.  Over 100 patients undergo tilt studies each year for evaluation of fainting spells.