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The Nicklaus Children’s Heart Institute is a world leader in pediatric cardiology, interventional cardiology, and cardiovascular surgery for children with congenital and acquired heart conditions. Families turn to the Heart Institute for advanced care that brings together internationally recognized specialists, innovative technologies, and a multidisciplinary team focused on each child’s needs.
The Heart Institute offers some of the most innovative and least-invasive approaches available for children with heart conditions, including advanced interventional cardiac procedures that can reduce, and in some cases eliminate, the need for open-heart surgery. From fetal diagnosis and newborn care to childhood treatment, follow-up, and adult congenital heart care, the team supports patients and families through every stage of the heart care journey.
Congenital heart disorders occur in approximately eight out of every 1,000 newborns and can range from mild conditions to complex heart defects requiring specialized medical intervention. At Nicklaus Children’s, children and families have access to a comprehensive heart program with expertise in pediatric cardiology, interventional cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, cardiac intensive care, electrophysiology, non-invasive imaging, fetal cardiology, and adult congenital heart disease.
The Heart Institute is known for advancing care through innovative procedures, advanced imaging, catheter-based technologies, and surgical techniques designed for children with complex heart conditions. These capabilities include interventional procedures performed in the cardiac catheterization lab and, when clinically appropriate, at the bedside for fragile infants who may not be able to safely travel for care. The program also uses tools such as 3D modeling and augmented reality to support procedural planning, patient teaching, and highly individualized care.
With outpatient fetal and cardiology services available across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Martin counties, Nicklaus Children’s helps families access expert pediatric heart care close to home while remaining connected to the full resources of South Florida’s leading pediatric heart program.
Highlights of the Heart Institute:
The Heart Institute continues to build on a distinguished history of pediatric heart care by advancing new approaches in cardiovascular surgery and interventional cardiology. Under the leadership of its chiefs and multidisciplinary team, the institute offers highly specialized procedures for children with complex congenital heart disease, including catheter-based, hybrid, minimally invasive, and advanced surgical options that are not widely available.
The following highlights reflect areas of clinical innovation and program leadership that help distinguish the Heart Institute for families in South Florida and beyond.
Cardiovascular Surgery
- First in Florida to perform a Partial Heart Transplant and leading the first CHSS-based national registry in pediatric cardiac surgery. This registry is focused on understanding partial heart transplants nationwide.
- One of few in the nation to utilize the Ozaki method to repair the aortic valve in children
- One of only a few centers nationwide and the only pediatric hospital in Florida offering Axillary (armpit) open-heart surgery. This approach delivers the same heart repair with less pain, faster recovery, and minimal visible scarring.
- First staged heart septation in Florida
- First in Florida and one of few in the world to offer robotic open-heart surgery, avoiding scarring on the chest
- One of few in the world to offer Kawashima procedures with preparation for transcatheter Fontan, avoiding an open-heart surgery
- Nicklaus Children’s is among the few centers in the nation offering the REV operation, in which the cardiac surgical team corrects transposition of the great arteries with ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis by rerouting blood flow and reconstructing the heart’s anatomy.
Interventional Cardiology
- First in Florida to offer a traveling bedside PDA closure program
- First in Florida to use Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality for procedural planning and guidance for congenital heart disease (CHD) patients - 4th hospital in the U.S. to use in congenital cardiac interventions
- First in Florida to use percutaneous ECMO for a patient with congenital heart disease– 3rd in the U.S.
- The third program in the world and first in Florida to successfully redirect Fontan circulation percutaneously
- First in Florida to use pulmonary flow restrictors (PFR) in PDA stents
A Team Approach to Care Makes a Difference
The Heart Institute brings together a highly specialized team of pediatric cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, interventional cardiologists, cardiac intensivists, anesthesiologists, electrophysiologists, imaging physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, and other clinicians. This team-based model supports children with heart conditions from diagnosis and treatment through recovery, follow-up, and long-term care.
As the leading pediatric heart program in South Florida, Nicklaus Children’s Heart Institute combines advanced clinical expertise with coordinated, family-centered care for children with a wide range of heart conditions, including some of the most complex congenital heart defects.
- Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgeons
- Pediatric Cardiologists
- Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiologists
- Cardiac Intensivists
- Advanced Practice Providers
- Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging Physicians
- Electrophysiologists
Comprehensive Programs and Services
Treatments and Procedures
- Multimodality Fusion Imaging
- Pulmonary Flow Restrictors (PFRs)
- Transcatheter Sinus Venosus ASD Closure
Treatments and Procedures
Conditions We Treat
Recognition and Outcomes Tell the Story
Our pediatric cardiology and cardiovascular surgery services are ranked among the nation’s best for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery by U.S.News & World Report.
A Distinguished History of Saving Little Hearts
During the 1960s, Nicklaus Children's Hospital became the first facility in Florida to perform pediatric open-heart surgery. Over the years, the hospital has continued to build on this tradition of leadership and excellence in children's cardiology.
In 1995, Nicklaus Children's Hospital, recruited top cardiac physicians and surgeons in pediatric cardiology to oversee new services that included Florida’s first dedicated Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, a state-of-the-art Interventional Cardiac Catheterization Program, and, later, a Clinical Research Program and Electrophysiology Program.