Surgery (Cardiovascular surgery)

The Cardiovascular Surgery Team at the Montreal Children’s Hospital provides consultation, evaluation, surgical care, and follow-up care for an entire range of pediatric surgical conditions in children from birth to early adulthood who have congenital (present at birth) and acquired (not present at birth but developing afterwards) cardiac and pulmonary disease.

The goal of every team member is to ensure that all children in our region have access to a centre of excellence for cardiac surgical care and receive the best cardiac surgical care possible in an environment specially designed for children.

Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery has been a vital part of the hospital’s mission for more than half a century. Dr. Anthony Dobell, who is the founder of the Division, was at the forefront of the development of congenital heart surgery as a specialty. Over the years, a number of our cardiovascular surgery residents have gone on to become staff members of some of the foremost cardiovascular surgery teams in the world.

The Division of Cardiovascular Surgery is comprised of the following team members:

• Dr. Christo I. Tchervenkov, Division Director
• Dr. Suzanne Vobecky, Division associate member
• Dr. Renzo Cecere, MUHC Director of the Mechanical Assist Program
• Dr. Pierre-Luc Bernier will join the Division in 2014.

The team includes two nurse clinicians and an administrative staff member.  We work closely with staff on the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Neonatal Intensive care Unit and on the 7C surgical inpatient unit as well as with OR staff.

Currently, patients are seen and assessed in the Cardiology clinic; pediatric cardiovascular surgeries take place in the Main Operating Room on the 10^th floor of the MCH. Before and after surgery, patients  are  cared for in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the surgical inpatient unit on 7C. 

The division of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at the MCH is the referral centre for pediatric cardiac surgical care in the RUIS McGill. The Division is also the primary referral centre for pediatric cardiac surgical care for the RUIS Sherbrooke. Patients are also referred by pediatric cardiologists outside the province. Our patients range in age from babies not yet born to 18 years of age who have congenital heart disease.

The Division takes a team approach to care, with on-site specialists in echocardiography (using ultrasound waves to create an image of the heart), cardiac catheterization (inserting a thin tube into an artery or vein) and intervention, as well as electrophysiology (analyzing the electrical activity of the heart), which are available to all our patients whenever needed.

The hospital also has an interdisciplinary team in its ICU led by experienced pediatric critical care physicians who provide care to our patients 24 hours a day. Specialists in pediatric cardiac anesthesia and cardiovascular perfusion provide services in the OR and ICU as well as in the catheterization lab.

The Montreal Children’s Hospital is one of only two hospitals in Quebec with the ability to provide both respiratory and cardiac extracorporeal membrane support (using a pump to circulate blood outside the body where an artificial lung fills the blood with oxygen), and this has become a routine part of care for certain high-risk pediatric cardiac patients.

Dr. Christo I. Tchervenkov, Director, Division of Cardiovascular Surgery

514-412-4400 x 22394

[email protected]