2012 Bay Street Hockey Tournament Magazine - Toronto General ...

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PROCEEDS FROM THE bAy stReet hockey TOURNAMENT WILL HELP FIND THE ANSWERS TO HEART DISEASE
THE PETER MUNK CARDIAC CENTRE
2012 TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY:
WHAT IS CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE?
In congenital heart disease (CHD), a person is essentially born with a defect of the heart
caused by a development abnormality of one ore more structures of the heart or its blood vessels.
These can include narrowed or leaky heart valves, inefficient flow between the heart’s chambers,
abnormal connection of chambers/arteries, and other abnormalities. Major advances in surgical
and non-surgical techniques have allowed CHD patients to live longer than ever before.
For the first time, patients are living well into their 40s and 50s, raising families and having
their hearts repaired without major surgery.
ACHD PROGRAM TODAY
The Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Program located
at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) celebrated its fifty year
anniversary in 2009. The ACHD program is the first program in
the world established specifically to look after adult survivors
of the pioneering surgery that saves the lives of children with
CHD, and it remains the largest such program in the world.
DR. ERWIN OECHSLIN, MD, FRcPc
Director, Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program, University Health
Network and Mt. Sinai Hospital; Associate Professor of Medicine,
University of Toronto; Bitove Foundation Professorship.
Directed by Dr. Erwin Oechslin, the Bitove
Foundation Professor in Adult Congenital
Heart Disease, the ACHD Program at the
PMCC is internationally recognized as the
premier centre for ACHD for its successes
in care, education and research.
The ACHD program has become renowned for its long term
outcome studies, interventions and patient centred care,
attention to the psychological aspects of adults with congenital
heart disease, as well as care of pregnant women with heart
disease in collaboration with Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
PMCC achieves global impact by training more physicians -
residents and fellows - in adult congenital heart disease than
any other centre in the world - over 50 cardiologists have been
trained through the program since 1992. Many of the program’s
trainees have moved on to begin similar programs throughout
Canada and the world. The ACHD program has served as a
model for the way to organize and provide care to adults
with CHD who require: lifelong surveillance, many further
investigations and interventions, are at lifelong risk, yet
nevertheless lead active happy lives, raising families and
contributing to society.
Recently, one of PMCC’s biggest successes in treating ACHD
patients is in percutaneous (through the skin) repair and
replacement of the heart valves. Previously, patients would
require open-heart surgery but now, minimally invasive,
catheter based techniques can be performed, allowing
patients to return home on the same or following day.
PMCC cardiologists perform about 250 catheter based,
minimally invasive procedures on CHD patients annually.