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The CDH team at Children's Hospital Boston is dedicated to improving outcomes for children born with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Twenty years ago, about one in five babies with CDH survived. Today the national average is 60 percent; at Children's Hospital Boston it's 90 percent.
The program brings together physicians, nurses, and other care providers across specialties to coordinate treatment based on each patient's needs. The multidisciplinary team includes pediatric surgeons as well as specialists in pulmonary medicine, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, cardiology, orthopedics, child development, nutrition, and genetics.
When CDH is suspected prenatally, Children's Advanced Fetal Care Center assists families through a coordinated program of care, including diagnosis and counseling, prenatal monitoring, treatment at delivery, and postnatal care.
Some babies come into the program when diagnosis is made after birth. In addition, the team oversees an outpatient CDH clinic. Established in 1989, the clinic monitors and treats the long-term health needs of CDH patients, from early childhood through college age.
The CDH Program at Children's is a national and international resource for parents and physicians. Team members also actively participate in ongoing innovative research focused on the treatment and understanding of this life-threatening birth defect.
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