from staff
Dr. Eric Ceithaml, chief of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery for Wolfson Children’s Hospital, said that in 2007 — for the first time in the history of Jacksonville’s children’s heart surgery program — there was zero mortality. These statistics, representing 164 surgeries on children’s hearts, were recently reported to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
“Three to four percent mortality each year for any children’s heart surgery program is considered very good,” said Ceithaml. “No mortality at all is a rather spectacular accomplishment for our program.”
Despite the increase in the complexity of open and closed heart surgeries at Wolfson, mortality has been on the decline, and has been less three percent since 2004. In 2006, mortality was only 2.4 percent.
Ceithaml, who has led the pediatric cardiovascular surgery program at the University of Florida, and then Wolfson Children’s Hospital, for more than 20 years, says very few children have to leave Jacksonville for heart surgery.
“We provide the full gamut of complex heart surgeries, excluding heart transplants,” he said. “We serve children from throughout the state and into Southern Georgia.”
Ceithaml, who is in practice with pediatric cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Robert Dabal (who joined in 2006) says the program’s success is not only due to the skills and experience of the surgeons, but to the entire team.
“The pediatric cardiologists are providing the cardiac surgeons with a very accurate preoperative diagnosis,” said Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. Jose Ettedgui, medical director of the Pediatric Cardiovascular Center. “In conjunction with the surgeons, a clear management plan is established before the child goes to the operating room. This joint strategy optimizes outcomes.
“The pediatric cardiologists feel very confident when they refer a child for heart surgery that their patients will receive outstanding care.”
Ceithaml also recognized the other members of the team who make the program successful.
“We have an outstanding pediatric anesthesiology team from Nemours Children’s Clinic who specialize in caring for pediatric heart patients,” he said. “Our pediatric operating room team includes surgical nurses and other staff specially trained in assisting with these complex procedures, along with nurses in Wolfson’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) who have received specialized training in post-cardiac surgery care. The critical care physicians in the PICU also have knowledge and skill in taking care of children after heart surgery. The entire team has helped to enhance the outcomes of these children.”
The pediatric cardiovascular surgery program moved from the University of Florida/Jacksonville to Wolfson in 1996 to further consolidate children’s inpatient services in one location.
“The support that Wolfson has given by substantially investing in the program has allowed us to use cutting-edge technology in the care and treatment of children with congenital heart disease,” said Ceithaml.