Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia

When your child with heart disease needs a surgery or heart procedure, knowing they are being cared for by an anesthesiologist who specializes in pediatric heart care brings peace of mind. Our Stanford Medicine Children’s Health cardiac anesthesia team cares for infants, children, teens, and young adults with all types of heart conditions. Our focus is making sure your child receives tailored, expert cardiac anesthesia support before, during, and after, to ensure safe surgeries and contribute to your child’s best outcome.

Only large pediatric heart centers, like our Betty Irene Moore Children’s Heart Center, are likely to have anesthesiologists who specialize in pediatric cardiac anesthesia and have experience caring for the most complicated patients and supporting highly complex surgeries. Our pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists at Stanford Children’s dedicate themselves to giving exceptional patient care and are national leaders in their field.

Highlights of our pediatric cardiac anesthesia care

  • We help achieve exceptional heart surgery outcomes. Since anesthesia can impact heart function during heart surgery, including changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen, it is important to have a pediatric anesthesiologist who deeply understands the function of the heart and the nuances of heart surgery. Because our pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists have extensive training and experience in complex congenital heart disease, we are better able to manage complications during heart surgery and navigate complex procedures, including cardiopulmonary bypass and ventricular assist device implantations. This expertise contributes to a better outcome for your child.
  • Our team plays a vital role in every heart surgery, catheter procedure, and diagnostic heart test for children with heart disease. We help ensure your child’s safety and comfort during their surgical, catheter, interventional, and/or diagnostic heart procedure. Our Moore Children’s Heart Center performs an exceptionally large number of heart surgeries each year. For example, we perform more than 600 heart surgeries and over 1,000 cardiac catheterizations annually. These include all stages of single ventricle repair, heart transplants, mechanical support devices implantation, and difficult pulmonary artery reconstructions, from neonates to adults with complex congenital heart disease.
  • We conduct research to provide the latest, high-quality pediatric cardiac anesthesia care. Our team is highly active in national academic organizations and pursues cardiac anesthesia research to stay at the forefront of care for heart patients.
  • We collaborate with the greater Stanford Children’s Heart Center team to provide exceptional care for our patients. By engaging with all heart specialists on your child’s care team, we are better able to ensure that everyone is on the same page, helping to achieve good results.