UT Medical Group, Inc. - Advances in Diagnosis, Treatment Target Heart Defects

Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect, affecting an estimated 40,000 infants born in the U.S. each year.

Fortunately, thanks to medical advances, many children with heart problems are now able to live long and healthy lives. In fact, there are now about 1 million American children and adults living today with congenital heart defects and childhood onset heart disease.

“The number of adults with congenital heart disease has surpassed the number of children with the condition in the last two years,” says Dr. Jeff Myers, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at UT Medical Group and an associate professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Along with that success, however, comes a word of caution. Children with congenital heart problems need to be monitored even after they become adults to be sure that the heart continues to function properly. Even if the congenital defect was repaired in infancy, other heart-related conditions can occur later in life.

The cardiology division at UT Medical Group’s Department of Pediatrics offers highly specialized cardiac care to both children and adults with congenital heart problems. Physicians with expertise in pediatric cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery provide services from echocardiograms and cardiac catheterizations to heart valve repair and replacement.

Austin Park, left, is an active teenager again after undergoing surgery last year to replace his aortic valve. Pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Jeff Myers, right, performed the surgery.

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