Advances in surgery and medication mean that more and more children born with heart defects are surviving. As these innovations have dramatically improved the prognosis of children with congenital heart disease, surviving adults are now presented with the problem of finding a cardiologist who can treat their distinctive condition once they outgrow their pediatric cardiologist. The unique needs of this patient population now demand the expertise of a specialist who can place congenital defects and their repairs in the context of an adult patient and that’s exactly what Mount Sinai offers.

 

Mount Sinai’s Columbia University Division of Cardiology’s new congenital heart disease clinic provides treatment for adult patients with congenital heart disease who enter adult life with the disease and require ongoing care. The treatment utilizes a unique team approach. Patients have access to a pediatric cardiologist as well as an adult cardiologist. Dr. Madeline Mas, the region’s leading expert in pediatric cardiology, works jointly with Dr. Juan-Carlos Brenes, co-director of Mount Sinai’s Echocardiography Laboratory and an expert in 3D echocardiography, to diagnose and treat adult patients with problems that come up from congenital heart disease.