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Kapiolani
children’s heart center
deemed A-1
Kapiolani Children's Heart Institute
By Helen Altonn
has a success rate equal to
'national centers of excellence,'
an expert says
Star-BulletinKapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children has developed a children's heart center as good as any on the mainland, according to Dr. John Lamberti, chief of cardiac surgery at Children's Hospital-San Diego.
The internationally renowned pediatric cardiac surgeon helped Kapiolani develop its program, which is affiliated with the San Diego hospital. He directs the heart institute there, and has come to Hawaii five or six times annually to assist with heart surgeries at Kapiolani.
The children's heart program has been named Kapiolani Children's Heart Institute. The name was to be announced today at Hawaii's first pediatric heart conference, being held at Kapiolani and attended by about 100 island physicians.
Dr. Carlos Moreno-Cabral, medical director of Kapiolani's pediatric cardiac program, said the program offers several advantages. In many cases, island families can receive the full range of cardiac care, treatment and support services without going to the mainland.
"What we've done," Lamberti said, "is to set our sights on doing cases that we know that we can do well in Hawaii, and when the patients require sophisticated diagnostic techniques or they might require special support after the surgery, then we send the patient to the mainland."
Kapiolani's program was modeled after the Children's Heart Institute at Children's Hospital-San Diego, Moreno-Cabral said.
Besides assisting with Kapiolani's cardiac surgeries, Lamberti has served as a consultant, mentor and teacher to hospital administrators, physicians and staff. He also has assisted Moreno-Cabral with some adult heart surgery cases, which he was doing this morning at Queen's Hospital.
Lamberti said he and Moreno-Cabral tried to bring successful treatment and management concepts of high-volume mainland programs to Kapiolani's low-volume program.
Patients receiving full cardiac services at Kapiolani the past five years have had a 99 percent survival rate -- outcomes "as good as what you'll find at national centers of excellence on the mainland," he said.
Nearly one in every 100 Hawaii children is born with a heart defect, which reflects the national average, according to Kapiolani, which also draws cases from the Pacific Rim and Asia.
Technological advances allow earlier detection of heart problems, even in an unborn child, the doctors said. Some types of heart surgery can be done on newborns at Kapiolani, but those requiring open-heart surgery will be sent to the mainland, Lamberti said.
"We decided we can get better results by formalizing the strategies for management and being a little more cautious in how we decide which infants are going to be operated in Hawaii," he said.
