Families come to Nicklaus Children's Hospital Heart Institute for advanced care, surgical expertise, and hope, especially when facing rare and complex congenital heart conditions. Nicklaus Children's Heart Institute is also home to some of the most advanced pediatric heart therapies available today.
The arrival of two new chiefs, Dr. David Kalfa, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery, and Dr. Shyam Sathanandam, Chief of Cardiology, has helped usher in a new chapter of innovation at the Heart Institute.
In 2026, Nicklaus Children's became the first pediatric hospital in Florida to perform a partial heart transplant, a procedure in which a living valve from a donor heart is implanted while the patient's own heart remains in place. Dr. Kalfa performed the surgery on an 11-year-old patient, offering an alternative to traditional mechanical, prosthetic, or animal-derived valves. The benefit of utilizing a living valve is that they continue to grow as the child grows, reducing the need for future heart surgeries typically required in children with congenital heart disease (CHD). Non-living valves also need to be replaced over time, leading to additional open-heart surgeries, and are associated with other complications and medical needs.
Dr. Kalfa's work is supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health in collaboration with Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, advancing research and clinical innovation in partial heart transplantation and pediatric valve preservation techniques.
Dr. Shyam Sathanandam has launched a traveling program for transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closures for medically fragile, extremely premature newborns, bringing advanced therapy directly to neonatal intensive care units across South Florida. Bedside PDA closures enable procedures to be performed within the baby's own incubator. The minimally invasive procedure involves placing a small catheter through a vein to deliver a tiny device that seals the PDA from within.
This eliminates the need to transport extremely premature infants (<26 weeks) to a catheterization laboratory or even outside of their NICU room, reducing the risks associated with moving fragile babies. To date, the team been performing bedside PDA closures at Nicklaus Children's Hospital Fort Lauderdale, located within Broward Health Medical Center, on the tiniest of infants weighing less than 580 grams.
The Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at Nicklaus Children's Hospital provide advanced, minimally invasive therapies for infants, children, and adults with congenital and acquired heart disease. Under the leadership of Dr. Shyam Sathanandam, the program offers specialized procedures that can reduce or eliminate the need for open-heart surgery, including:
- Sinus venosus defect closure: Nicklaus Children's is among a select group of pediatric programs nationwide offering transcatheter closure of sinus venosus defects. The team uses patient-specific 3D modeling and advanced procedural planning to tailor treatment to each child's anatomy.
- Lymphatic imaging and interventions: Nicklaus Children's is the only hospital in the southeastern United States offering comprehensive lymphatic imaging and interventional therapies for children with complex lymphatic disorders associated with congenital heart disease.
- Percutaneous ECMO: Nicklaus Children's is the only children's hospital in the United States to routinely offer percutaneous veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for critically ill newborns, infants, and children.
- Interventional cardiac MRI and virtual reality planning: The Heart Institute is among a select number of pediatric centers worldwide performing certain catheter-based interventions in the MRI environment. The team also uses virtual reality, computational modeling, and advanced 3D visualization to plan complex procedures.
- Pediatric Pulmonary Embolism Response Team: Nicklaus Children's is the only children's hospital in Florida with a dedicated pediatric PERT, led by interventional cardiologist Dr. Daniel Duarte, to rapidly evaluate and treat children with life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
- Pulmonary vein rehabilitation: This multidisciplinary program combines medical management, catheter-based interventions, and surgery to provide individualized care for children with pulmonary vein stenosis.
- Growth-accommodating stents: Nicklaus Children's was the first hospital in Florida, and remains the only hospital in South Florida, to offer stents that can be expanded as a child grows.
- Pulmonary Flow Restrictors: Dr. Sathanandam pioneered this catheter-based therapy to regulate blood flow to the lungs in newborns with complex congenital heart disease. The approach may help stabilize infants and delay major surgery until they are older and stronger.
Nicklaus Children's Hospital is also among the few centers in the nation offering the REV operation, in which our cardiac surgical team reroutes blood flow and reconstructs the heart's anatomy to improve circulation and help children move forward with stronger heart function and better long-term outcomes. For families navigating a complicated diagnosis, access to this level of expertise can make all the difference.
But our commitment to innovation goes far beyond these procedures. Other recent innovations include:
- Ozaki valve repair: Nicklaus Children's is among a handful of pediatric programs nationally offering the Ozaki technique to repair aortic and pulmonary valves in children. The procedure uses the child's own tissue to reconstruct the valve, offering an alternative to traditional valve replacement for select patients.
- Axillary open-heart surgery: Nicklaus Children's is one of only a few centers nationwide, and the only pediatric hospital in Florida, offering open-heart surgery through an incision near the armpit. For eligible patients, this approach can achieve the needed heart repair with less visible scarring and a potentially easier recovery.
- Staged heart septation: Nicklaus Children's has performed Florida's first staged heart septation, a complex approach for select children with congenital heart disease. I would have the clinical team confirm the plain-language explanation before publishing, because this is the least self-explanatory item.
- Kawashima procedure with preparation for transcatheter Fontan completion: Nicklaus Children's is among the few hospitals in the world offering this approach for select patients with single-ventricle heart disease. The procedure helps reroute blood flow to the lungs and prepares some children for a future catheter-based Fontan completion, which may help avoid another open-heart surgery.
These milestones reflect more than surgical achievement; they represent our dedication to giving children access to groundbreaking care close to home. From complex reconstructions to less invasive surgical techniques and pioneering transplant advances, Nicklaus Children's Heart Institute continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in pediatric heart care.
For families, that means expert treatment, compassionate support, and confidence that their child is being cared for at one of the nation's most forward-thinking pediatric heart centers.