Children with congenital heart defects need expert care from a team specially trained to understand a child’s unique needs. The board-certified pediatric heart surgeons at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, have experience in caring for children of all ages with heart defects, from newborns to young adults.

They work closely with a comprehensive care team that includes pediatric cardiologists, pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists, cardiac critical care physicians, nurses and others so that patients receive consistent care from the time of their diagnosis through follow-up after surgery. 

Among the procedures the team performs are:

• Aortic valve repair/replacement
• Arterial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries
• Atrial septal defect repair
• AV septal defect repair
• Bi-directional Glenn procedure
• Coarctation of aorta repair
• Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
• Fontan procedure
• Heart transplant
• Mitral valve repair/replacement
• Patent ductus arteriosus repair
• Pulmonary valve replacement
• Surgical treatment for hypoplastic left heart syndrome
• Tetralogy of Fallot repair
• Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection
• Truncus arteriosus repair
• Tricuspid valve repair
• Ventricular assist device (VAD)
• Ventricular septal defect repair

What to Expect 

Before surgery, your child will have a preoperative appointment to make sure he or she is ready for surgery and so you can ask the medical team any questions you may have. Learn more about what to expect. 

After surgery, your child will be cared for in the hospital’s dedicated cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) by our cardiac critical care physicians, and other specialists as needed. Learn more about the CVICU.