CINCINNATI — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly two million adults in the U.S. live with congenital heart disease. It’s a condition that affects one’s heart structure and impacts blood flow. 

What You Need To Know

  • Cincinnati Children's Hospital and The Christ Hospital Health Network recently joined forces to offer a new clinic for patients with congenital heart disease 

  • Physicians said the goal is to increase the level of cardiovascular care in the region and emphasize the importance of follow-ups

  • ​According to the CDC, heart defects affect nearly 1% of births in the U.S. yearly

“Some people will require surgery or intervention within days of being born to save their lives. Others may not know about their heart defect for decades and may develop arrhythmias or heart failure later in life,” said Dr. Sasha Opotowsky, the medical director of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program.

Cincinnati Children's recently partnered with physicians from The Christ Hospital Health Network to offer a new ACHD clinic. 

“Our goal is really to both extend life as long as is feasible for those patients and at the same time to improve their quality of life,” he said. 

“Many patients are actually lost in that transition from being a child to adulthood. Part of that is because we don't necessarily have the infrastructure in the health care system to care for those patients,” The Christ Hospital's Structural Heart Disease Program Director Dr. Santiago Garcia said. 

Garcia said this initiative not only increases the level of cardiovascular care they provide but emphasizes just how crucial follow-up care is to a patient’s life. 

“There are patients who’ve had corrective surgery but need very close follow-up because either those implants or procedures that were done during infancy may be subject to generation and change over time,” Santiago said.  

People living with CHD also have a longer life expectancy thanks to advancements in technology and procedures over the years. More than 90% of patients are now expected to survive to adulthood, according to the American Heart Association.

“We now have multiple tools to intervene in these patients, whether they are surgical tools or transcatheter therapies that can be really lifesaving,” Garcia said.  

“In fact, there are actually more adults than children living right now with congenital heart disease in the United States," Opotowsky said. 

Garcia hopes the collaboration will also help meet more patients where they are. 

“Many patients with congenital heart disease in their 20s and 30s may be reluctant to go to a children's hospital. They may be under the care of an adult cardiologist who may or may not have the expertise. We're trying to bring that expertise, to where the patients are and to the hospital where the patients go,” he said.  

​According to the CDC, heart defects affect nearly 1% of births in the U.S. That's around 40,000 babies per year.