Phoenix Children’s Center for Heart Care program advances pediatric care

Phoenix Children’s Center for Heart Care is the largest provider of pediatric heart services in the Southwest, offering comprehensive pediatric cardiovascular services.

Andrew Papez, MD, Pediatric Cardiologist at Phoenix Children’s, joined “Arizona Horizon” to share more about the program.

“We care for all facets of children and young adults with congenital heart conditions, acquired heart conditions and inherited heart conditions,” Dr. Papez said, adding, “Everybody coming together on one team to care for that group.”

Dr. Papez explained congenital heart disease is the most common congenital malformation, as roughly one in 100 babies born has some form of congenital heart disease. While most of those instances aren’t serious, roughly 25% of that group have life-threatening heart conditions requiring immediate intervention.

“Over the last 30 years, the mortality in that group has dropped by half,” Dr. Papez explained, “and that’s all due to research and innovation in the field.”

Today, cardiologists are able to freeze the heart in a CT scan and show an MRI of the actual heart beating.

“Clinical care is the bulk of it, but then at the same time we’re always asking ourselves what can we do to make this better,” Dr. Papez said. “We collaborate with our colleagues around the country to join forces to find those better solutions.”

Dr. Papez emphasized there are a limited number of cardiac centers, not just throughout the United States, but the world as well.

“We all trained at other places, and we bring those ideas and that experience here to a giant mixing bowl of innovation for the kids,” Dr. Papez explained.

According to Dr. Papez, his team mainly focuses on congenital heart conditions, which are conditions that people are born with and generally never go away.

“It’s important to have someone caring for these patients who understands the journey that they’ve been through because that helps anticipate the challenges that they face later in life,” Dr. Papez said.