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From Neurosurgery to Heart Surgery, Children’s Health℠ Saves Lives Through Innovation

Right in Dallas-Fort Worth’s own backyard, Children’s Health℠ has long been a recognized leader in pioneering pediatric health care.
By D Partner Studio |
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Children's Health

Worry and parenting go hand-in-hand, particularly when it comes to a child’s health. Most parents aren’t faced with a continual worry about childhood illnesses or diseases – until they are confronted with them. And when in need, parents want the best, most advanced treatments available for their children at top medical centers, where research and innovation are prioritized and applied every day.

Right in Dallas-Fort Worth’s own backyard, Children’s Health℠ has long been a recognized leader in pioneering pediatric health care. Since 1961, Children’s Health has served as the pediatric teaching hospital for UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s leading medical education and biomedical research institutions. From innovations in lifesaving TeleNICU care to transformational neurosurgery techniques, Children’s Health has transformed health care through research and innovation.

“There has never been a better or safer way to deliver care than now, and we continue striving to achieve safe, compassionate, high-quality care each and every day.”

Dai H. Chung, M.D.

As the only academically affiliated pediatric hospital in the North Texas region, Children’s Health offers unparalleled access to the latest groundbreaking research, clinical trials and academic expertise. Together, Children’s Health and UT Southwestern are developing the next generation of therapies and techniques that will be used to help children across the nation – and around the world.

Led by faculty from UT Southwestern, the research at Children’s Health seeks to find cures and better treatments for children. With a spirit of innovation and dedication to excellence, the research team translates findings into leading-edge patient care.

“There has never been a better or safer way to deliver care than now, and we continue striving to achieve safe, compassionate, high-quality care each and every day,” says Dr. Dai H. Chung, chief medical officer of the Joint Pediatric Enterprise (JPE) between UT Southwestern and Children’s Health. “The great partnership we have with UT Southwestern, and programs based around research and clinical discoveries, allow us to take on new challenges. We continue taking studies to identify leading preventive measures and safer treatments to deliver those to our patients. Transformative research is fundamentally important. Each of these efforts support our mission – to make life better for children. This is also what sets us apart from other pediatric hospitals in the region. We are well positioned to provide these kinds of offerings that ultimately impact the patients we care for.”

When it comes to medical discoveries and administering life-saving cures for the pediatric population, innovation matters, and not all health systems can offer the latest available advances. Conditions that require a complex level of evaluation and teamwork between multiple disciplines are not vastly available everywhere, Dr. Chung says. “We are tasked with caring for patients with the most complex conditions, and it is only with these medical advances, pushing the boundaries and research findings that we are able to develop advanced techniques and technologies to continue providing a higher level of care,” he says. “Oftentimes there isn’t a simple solution to many conditions that, unfortunately, infants and children suffer from. A system like Children’s Health with a long history of academic affiliation with clinicians and care teams working collectively in more efficient and safer ways is an advantage. We want our patients to be cured of these conditions while providing care in a safe, more efficient, and non-exhaustive manner to families and children. Working with a larger academic center such as UT Southwestern, with innovative and impactful programs and treatments, is helpful for children who suffer from a variety of conditions.”

From robotic neurosurgery to heart surgery, Children’s Health offers the most groundbreaking innovation available that, for many young patients, has eliminated the need for lifelong medication and multiple surgeries.

Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery

In the late 1980s, minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery transitioned from concept to reality. Surgeons were able to perform routine and complex surgeries without making large incisions. “In post-surgery, things can become challenging for a patient’s recovery, especially after a large surgical incision,” Dr. Chung says. “It’s difficult to recover movement and activity, plus there are always potential complications.” In the past few decades, minimally invasive surgery has reduced recovery time after surgery by making smaller incisions instead. The radical concept of robotic surgery has evolved to become today’s reality, where surgeons can access tight spaces to reach tumors, masses, or problematic areas without causing traumatic incisions to a patient’s body. Recovery time is faster with fewer risks, making robotic surgery a standard surgical approach for many procedures. “Surgery can be quite stressful for children,” Dr. Chung says. “Often, we need to intervene with surgery to treat and cure some conditions, such as removing a tumor. In pediatric surgery, it has been more challenging to develop tools small enough to be adaptable for babies and children. It has taken additional years of research and development. Nonetheless, we are here. We have used robotic surgical systems for various conditions in the chest and pelvic cavity without creating those old, traditional incisions. The future is bright for pediatric robotic surgical offerings.”

ROSA Robotic Surgical System for Pediatric Neurosurgery Patients

The ROSA™ (robotic operating surgical assistant), is a breakthrough tool that makes neurosurgery less invasive, faster, and more accurate. ROSA combines a robotic arm with tools that help plan and guide surgery. The robotic arm is more precise and more stable than the human hand. It can be guided through small incisions and into hard-to-reach areas of the brain. ROSA’s planning tools allow surgeons to create accurate and safe paths into the brain. Surgeons also use ROSA’s GPS-like mapping system to pinpoint exactly where to make extractions. Together, the arm and the planning tools make surgeries less invasive and help children return to their normal life faster. ROSA has improved the outcomes for many pediatric neurosurgery patients, particularly children who have suffered from epilepsy or other seizure disorders.

“Advances have been made that enable us to know there are certain areas in the brain that trigger abnormal signals, causing seizure activity,” Dr. Chung says. “Robotic surgery allows us to get to those spots with precision. Because of robotic platforms and the latest available technology, surgeons can use 3D laser guidance to pinpoint an area deep inside the brain, then insert an ablation tool to cure the seizure disorder surgically. With this incredible machine, surgeons know exactly where to go. Without a robotic platform, this wouldn’t be possible. Prior to this advancement, children often were prescribed lifelong medications to manage their seizures. Having a resource like ROSA has been another game-changer. Not many institutions have this ability, and we have renowned experts using ROSA at Children’s Health.”

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Children's Health

A Heart Valve That Grows with the Child

According to Dr. Chung, when a child has a cardiac valvular disease causing significant prolapse or regurgitation where the blood cannot be sealed off from one chamber to another, serious health consequences may result. “Medication management can help, but eventually surgical intervention is required, and our team of physicians and providers evaluate the child to determine the benefits of having a heart valve replaced,” he says. Children’s Health now offers one of the latest innovations in pediatric cardiology—a heart valve that grows along with the child. The technological device offers a therapeutic approach called Endogenous Tissue Restoration (ETR).

“Let’s say a 5-year-old child needs an aortic valve replaced,” Dr. Chung says. “Traditionally, the surgeon would insert an artificial device that becomes a fixed property within the heart. Given the child’s small proportions, the surgeon could only fit it to their size at that initial surgery. The child will grow, but the valve will not grow with the child. There would be a need for additional surgeries as the child grows. Going back into the heart again and again for replacement creates a lot of complexity. Based on much research and development, this valve with biodegradable materials conforms to the shape of the child’s heart and becomes more integrated into the normal surroundings of the heart muscle. Over time, it becomes integrated into a natural heart valve and grows with the child, meaning the child isn’t always awaiting another operation.”

Children’s Health is a pioneer and leader in pediatric research and innovation in every specialty, including gastroenterology, pulmonology, urology, nephrology, hematology/oncology, neonatal/perinatal medicine, neurosurgery, cardiology, general surgery, and more. Learn more about up-to-the-minute advances in these specialties from Children’s Health and featured clinical trials at https://www.childrens.com/research-innovation. Listen to podcasts from Children’s Health specialists about the latest in innovation, Pediatric Insights: Advances and Innovations with Children’s Health, at https://www.childrens.com/keeping-families-healthy/podcasts/pediatric-podcast.

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