The solution
The Department of Congenital Heart Defects and Paediatric Cardiology at the German Heart Centre Munich is one of the largest and leading institutions nationally and internationally for the care of adults with congenital heart defects. The German Heart Centre Munich has its own highly specialised department where patients of all ages with congenital heart defects are cared for within one facility. This institution was established because we are convinced that the treatment and follow-up of adults with congenital heart disease in particular should only be carried out by teams of doctors who have sound knowledge of the respective heart defect, the treatment procedures carried out, possible late effects and newly developed interventional and surgical techniques.
The Department of Congenital Heart Defects and Paediatric Cardiology is a high-performance facility focusing on outpatient and inpatient diagnosis and treatment of adults with congenital heart defects. The special feature: specially trained, paediatric cardiologists and adult cardiologists certified in the care of adults with congenital heart disease care for their patients together within an independent department. This department structure has the great advantage that the doctors, nurses and hospital staff working here constantly see the entire spectrum of issues and problems in front of them, know the latest therapy options and can adequately evaluate long-term problems. For patients, the structure of long-term care described above has the advantage that they can stay in one and the same facility from childhood to old age and know the premises there and the doctors, nurses and other staff who look after them well. This makes the transition from adolescence to adulthood much easier, especially for younger patients, and a “transition phase” is not even necessary.
Our hospital has all the necessary modern examination and treatment facilities for congenital heart diseases. This also applies to the area of acute and intensive care medicine. In addition to non-invasiveExamination that does not require penetration of the body. (ECG, CT) examinations, the department’s special focus is on performing diagnostic and therapeutic cardiac catheter examinations as well as electrophysiological examinations and treating cardiac rhythm disordersDisturbance of the regular heartbeat sequence requiring treatment. Disturbances are an irregular beat, a beat that is too fast (above 120/min) or too slow (below 50/min)..
All surgical procedures that become necessary can be performed at the Department of Congenital Heart Defect Surgery and Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, a high-performance centre for the operation of congenital heart defects.
To ensure interdisciplinary maximum care, there is also close cooperation with selected specialists from all necessary disciplines (e.g. with cardiac surgeons, anaesthetists and intensive care specialists, ophthalmologists, orthopaedists, geneticists, radiologists, nuclear medicine specialists, gynaecologists and obstetricians, andrologists, respiratory physicians, nephrologists, haematologists, dentists, pathologists, occupational, sports and psychosocial physicians, etc.). Many cooperating hospitals are part of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) or the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU).
Follow-up treatments for adults with congenital heart defects are preferably carried out in cooperation with Klinik Höhenried, a rehabilitation centre for cardiovascular diseases. There is also close cooperation with the German Heart Foundation, the self-help groups Herzkind e. V. (Verein zur Förderung der Betreuung und Beratung herzkranker Kinder, Jugendlicher und junger Erwachsener sowie ihrer Familien e. V.), Bundesverband herzkranker Kinder e. V. and with JEMAH e. V.(Jugendliche und Erwachsene mit angeborenen Herzfehlern e. V.), which also advocates for the concerns of adults with congenital heart defects as well as their relatives.
