A Multidisciplinary Approach to Adult Congenital Heart Disease
In This Video
- Doreen DeFaria Yeh, MD, is the associate director of Mass General's Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program and the co-director of the Cardiovascular Disease in Pregnancy Program
- Here, she discusses her team's belief that the sum of the knowledge of many different specialists together is far greater than the individual knowledge of one doctor, especially in treating complex conditions like ACHD
Doreen DeFaria Yeh, MD, is the associate director of Mass General's Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program. In this video, she discusses her team's belief that the sum of the knowledge of many different specialists together is far greater than the individual knowledge of one doctor, especially in treating complex conditions like ACHD.
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Transcript
Our Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program really recognizes the critical importance of multidisciplinary care for our patients. We recognize that the sum of the knowledge of many different specialists together is far greater than the individual knowledge of one doctor. Our group has really led the way in providing multidisciplinary care in a seamless way for our patients. We come together every week to discuss some of our most complex patients with our cardiac surgeons, our interventionalists, our cardiac radiologists, our obstetricians, anesthesiologists—and we think about one single patient from a variety of different lenses so that we can really provide that patient with the most nuanced care that we can possibly deliver.
We really believe this collaborative and multidisciplinary program provides our patients with the opportunity for the best possible outcome so not only they can live longer but they can live healthier and live without restrictions that are unnecessarily placed. Due to tremendous advances in pediatric cardiac surgical technology, we now see patients who would have not made it to adulthood, survive, and thrive in adolescence and adulthood and make it to childbearing age.
These patients often come to us with more complex multisystem organ dysfunction such as kidney problems, liver problems, diabetes, obesity, but often as any young parent or a young woman would, they hope to have a family and they hope to have a normal family. Pregnancy can be more complicated among these patients who have complex congenital heart disease that's been repaired in their childhood now with superimposed complications of other organ system dysfunction such as kidney disease. Our group works together with our maternal-fetal medicine doctors along with our adult cardiologists, congenital cardiologists, anesthesiologists, and nursing staff to ensure that we think ahead about what potential problems may occur during their pregnancy. For some women, the increased fluid and volume that comes along that is normal and physiologic in pregnancy may not be well-tolerated and our job is to anticipate how that might affect that woman, plan ahead about their delivery plan so that not only we see them through a successful delivery but also ensure that we minimize the risks of fetal complication and minimize the risks of preterm delivery.
Learn more about Mass General's Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program
Learn more about Mass General's Pregnancy and Heart Disease