Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Research and innovation focused on children with heart conditions

Heart-lung bypass machine

Mayo Clinic developed a heart-lung bypass machine in the 1950s.

A successful outcome

A girl celebrates her birthday after recovering from surgery at Mayo Clinic with the use of the heart-lung bypass machine.

The Mayo Clinic Pediatric Cardiac Surgery team's record of research and innovation dates back to the 1950s, when it developed one of the first heart-lung machines. Mayo surgeons used it to successfully repair the heart of a 5-year-old girl with a ventricular septal defect.

Mayo Clinic cardiovascular surgeons continue the tradition of making important contributions to this specialty with landmark papers, new operations, technology and process innovations, national and international presentations, teaching, and learning from their peers. Advances with wide impact include:

• Improved outcomes for septal myectomy for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in children and young adults
• A 40-year record of continuous innovation and improving outcomes for people with Fontan circulation, including stem cell therapies with the intent to prolong life, improve quality of life and delay transplantation
• Long-standing excellence and innovation with surgery for Ebstein anomaly, with the world's largest surgical experience — exceeding 1,400 patients
• The experience — more than 10,000 cases — in repairing, preserving and replacing heart valves and offering minimally invasive surgery
• The use of remodeling and regenerative surgical techniques for structural or ischemic-related heart failure, and stem cell therapies for hypoplastic left heart syndrome and Ebstein anomaly in the Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

Mayo Clinic experts in pediatric cardiovascular surgery embrace the clinical challenges, find solutions with state-of-the-art or innovative operations, and offer hope and compassion to children and their families.

See a list of publications about heart and chest surgery by Mayo Clinic researchers on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.