Clinical Research

As part of our ongoing commitment to provide the highest quality of patient care, the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine/the Heart Center at Texas Children's Hospital is a leader in clinical research. Our program actively participates in cutting-edge research that spans a broad range of clinical specialties. Inventions and discoveries by faculty of our group have been noteworthy since our early beginnings. They include the first transplant in a small child, the development of pediatric electrophysiology, inventions in cardiac catheterization and intervention, and the discovery of disease-causing genes and viral markers of acquired heart disease.

The Division of Cardiology is involved with the following areas of clinical research:

Research includes:

• Viral mechanisms of cardiac rejection in pediatric transplant patients
• Arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in children with dilated cardiomyopathy and predictors of poor outcome in pediatric patients with dilated cardiomyopathy
• Arginine vasopressin levels as a predictor of outcome in children with congestive heart failure
• Use of nesiritide in the pediatric heart failure population
• Evaluation of BNP levels in the pediatric population – utility in children with cardiomyopathy, status post cardiac transplantation, and congestive heart failure
• Treatment and outcome of heart failure in patients with muscular dystrophy
• Leukocyte suppression and outcomes in pediatric orthotopic cardiac transplantation
• Telethonin – the link between structural abnormalities and arrhythmias
• Incidence of thrombosis in restrictive cardiomyopathy
• Abdominal pain in pediatric heart transplant recipients – a sign of graft vasculopathy

Research includes:

• Patent ductus arteriosus characteristics – echocardiographic and angiographic predictors of suitability for interventional catheter closure
• Non-invasive, real-time cardiac output evaluation
• Long-term evaluation post stent placement in pulmonary arteries – impact on morbidity and mortality
• Long-term follow-up after coil occlusion of coronary fistula
• Balloon angioplasty of coarctation of aorta in 690-gram infant
• Effect of coil occlusion of patent ductus arteriosus on atrial septal defect size
• Long-term outcome of aortopulmonary collaterals in children with pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect
• Interventional catheterization for pulmonary vein stenosis
• Long-term outcome of balloon dilatation of aortic valve stenosis
• Incidence of headaches post interventional atrial septal defect closure

Research includes:

• Utility of echocardiography in the evaluation of pediatric chest pain
• Correlation of electrocardiogram abnormalities with echocardiographic findings in children
• Echo evaluation of isolated aortic valve regurgitation – impact on surgical timing and long-term outcome
• Perioperative assessment of myocardial performance in neonates and children after cardiac repair
• MRI changes in palliated patients with d-transposition of the great arteries
• Echocardiographic predictors of outcome in restrictive cardiomyopathy
• Growth of atrial septal defects during childhood
• Harmonic imaging in pediatric echocardiography
• 5th aortic arch – delineation by MRI
• Utility of intracardiac echo probe for transesophageal cardiac evaluation in low-weight neonates during cardiac surgery

Research includes:

• Biventricular pacing in d-transposition of the great arteries in patients after Mustard palliation
• Fetal arrhythmias – treatment strategies and outcome
• Tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy – mechanism of tachycardia and impact on left ventricular function
• Pacemaker-associated cardiomyopathy
• Electrocardiogram criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy in African-American children
• Routine holters versus pacemaker checks for identification of abnormalities of pacemaker function
• Wolff-Parkinson-White and dilated cardiomyopathy
• Incidence of arrhythmias in patients post extracardiac versus lateral tunnel Fontan palliation
• Use of pacemakers/defibrillators in post cardiac transplant patients
• Electrocardiogram changes after atrial septal defect surgery

Research includes:

• Effects of peritoneal dialysis on serum pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in neonates post cardiopulmonary bypass
• BNP levels in neonates with single ventricles before and after Norwood and Glenn palliations
• NIRS in single ventricle patients
• Evaluation of BNP levels in the peri-operative pediatric population
• Use of fenoldopam in peri-operative pediatric patients with hypertension
• Peritoneal dialysis versus Lasix infusion in neonates
• Perioperative cerebral and lower body oxygen saturation in neonates undergoing congenital heart surgery
• Stress dose steroid rescue in critically ill neonates
• Hyperventilation and cerebral vascular effects in children after bi-directional cavopulmonary anastomosis
• Comparative study of perioperative course and outcome in patients undergoing Fontan versus Fontan revision surgery

Research includes:

• Effects of beta-blockade on aortic root growth in children with Marfan syndrome
• Cardiac and overall outcome in children with trisomy 18

Additional research includes:

• Use of caffeine citrate as prophylaxis for prostaglandin-induced apnea in neonates with ductal dependent congenital heart disease
• Utility of ACE-inhibition in d-transposition of the great arteries in patients post Mustard palliation
• Long-term outcomes in adults with congenital heart disease
• Outcomes in adult patients with history of Kawasaki disease
• Intimal constitution in aortopulmonary shunts
• Incidence of sudden cardiac death in patients with Kawasaki disease
• Worldwide experience with conjoined twins and septation
• Double aortic arch in d-transposition of the great arteries
• Regression of primary pulmonary hypertension
• Neo-aortic root dilatation after arterial switch operation in d-transposition of the great arteries