Video: The Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program takes a long term view

Many years ago, pediatric open-heart surgery focused on the basics of keeping the child alive. Today, these children are surviving and living physically healthy lives. Yet, cardiologist are now discovering that these children need additional long-term neurodevelopmental care.

In this video, Drs. Jane Newburger and Janice Ware show us how they assess and track children, as early as newborns, who have had open-heart surgeries, to ensure that they lead successful lives.

Caring for the head as well as heart

As more children with heart problems survive cardiac surgery, doctors are realizing that the children are frequently left with neurologic problems, such as mental retardation or lifelong language and learning disorders. Many of these problems may be due to the support techniques used to protect vital organs during heart surgery.

Cardiologists are working with psychologists and neurologists to minimize neurological problems that may occur after surgery for congenital heart disease. Drs. Newburger and Ware intervene early, assessing the neurological development of these children. The video shows how they do their assessments and has some discussion as to the impact these assessments have on these children’s lives.