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Research & Advances
About one in every 100 babies born in the United States — about 32,000 every year — have heart defects. How can we find these defects sooner, or prevent them entirely? What are better ways to treat the children? Can we repair the damage to their hearts?
These are some of the many questions that researchers at the Heart Center ask every day. Research helps us find the answers. Children's is committed to leading the translation of new knowledge into helpful clinical tools, and it shows.
History of Innovation
Our state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization laboratory was the first to establish both a pediatric cardiac catheterization intervention program and pediatric electrophysiology program in the Pacific Northwest. The laboratory also pioneered a number of innovative interventional procedures in the region.
We have a strong history of innovation and at the Heart Center you may have the opportunity to participate in some of the leading trials of new treatment or diagnostic methods that could benefit children with heart problems.
Our core research focus includes fetal diagnosis and treatment, minimally invasive and robotic surgery, advanced cardiac therapies, molecular cardiology, pulmonary vascular disease research and outcomes analysis.
Current Research
Currently, Drs. Thomas Jones and Troy Johnston and their team are pioneering methods of correcting defects of the heart using techniques and devices that could reduce the need for open heart surgery.
Dr. Michael Portman and his team are introducing medications that could reduce the damage of heart surgery, and medications that could reverse other types of injury to the heart muscle.
Drs. Gordon Cohen, Charles Murry and Robert Boucek are starting new studies that could help children recover from heart damage that currently can only be treated with transplantation.