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Centers of Excellence The Sol Goldman Children's Heart Center The Sol Goldman Children's Heart Center, opened in May 1993, is one of the nation's finest pediatric heart services combining pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery. The Heart Center encourages children's play and family involvement. Babies & Children's Hospital continues to be: a leading center for the diagnosis and treatment of congenital and acquired heart disease in infants and children; the nation's only Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Center; and the second largest pediatric heart transplant program in the United States, with 150 heart transplants in children since the program's inception in 1984. In 1997, about 500 cardiac surgical procedures and 600 cardiac catheterizations were performed. Intensive Care for Newborns As the hub of a regional perinatal network, Babies & Children's Hospital is linked with hospitals throughout the tri-state area. Through the network, high-risk infants are transported to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Babies & Children's. Babies & Children's is the only hospital in the tri-state area that offers extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a lifesaving technique that substitutes for an infant's heart and lungs. Pediatric surgeons and neonatologists at Babies & Children's Hospital pioneered the development of this therapy. Our NICU has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a model for excellence in respiratory care that minimizes permanent injury to the lungs of premature babies. Intensive Care for Children The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has witnessed a doubling in volume in recent years, an increase largely attributed to the volume of cardiac surgery. In July 1997, Babies & Children's received designation as a Level I Regional Pediatric Trauma Center, one of only two in the tri-state area. Pediatric Surgery Babies & Children's Hospital has the largest center for pediatric surgery in the tri-state area, represented by outstanding surgeons in every specialty. Anesthesiologists are board-certified in anesthesia and pediatrics. Babies & Children's Hospital has six technologically-advanced operating suites, designed specifically and exclusively for children's surgery. Both inpatient and same-day surgical services emphasize family participation. In most cases, parents may accompany their child into the operating room and stay until anesthesia has been administered and the child is asleep, thus easing the trauma of separation. Other Specialties The Cystic Fibrosis Center, part of the Pediatric Pulmonary Division, leads the nation in treating this disease. The lung and heart/lung program continues to expand, and includes lung transplantation for children with cystic fibrosis and other lung diseases. The division's exercise laboratory is the only facility in the tri-state area designed for testing in children. The Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Unit is an official transplant center of the Children's Cancer Study Group, the nation's largest consortium of medical schools for childhood cancer therapy. Children with recurrent tumors are treated with high-dose chemotherapy and rescued by reinfusion of their own (autologous) bone marrow. This innovative approach to childhood cancer therapy often succeeds when conventional therapy fails. This unit is an example of the multi-disciplinary cooperation among Babies & Children's Hospital physicians, nurses, basic research scientists at Columbia University Health Sciences, and other medical personnel that leads to innovative and effective treatments for children. Babies & Children's has successfully recruited a world-class transplant surgeon who began a donor-related Liver Transplant program in January 1998 that was expanded to include all pediatric liver transplants in July 1998.