CHOC Specialists Cardiothoracic Surgery provides cardiothoracic surgery, medical treatment and follow-up care to infants, children and adolescents to repair congenital heart defects. Our pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons have completed a residency in general surgery as well as thoracic or cardiothoracic surgery, and a fellowship in congenital cardiac surgery.

CHOC’s heart surgery program has the only facility in Orange County that performs newborn and pediatric open-heart surgery, and has dedicated cardiovascular operating rooms with extracorporeal life support (ECLS) and a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU).

For more than a decade, CHOC has been a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) National Database, an international benchmarking organization that sets the highest standards for hospitals performing heart surgery. CHOC was among the first 15 institutions to join the registry and report surgical outcome data. Today, there are more than 130 premiere hospitals in the STS database.