Cardiovascular surgery
Paediatric Cardiovascular Surgery began at The Hospital for Sick Children in the late 1940’s under the direction of Dr. W.T. Mustard. Today, the division provides 85-90 per cent of congenital cardiac surgical services for the province of Ontario. Between 600 and 650 index cases are performed each year with approximately 10% being adult congenital patients. The adult congenital surgery is performed at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network.
In 2003, the Ministry of Health for Ontario directed that paediatric congenital cardiac surgery, in the province, be performed under one surgical program administered at two sites – Toronto and Ottawa. The SickKids divisional chief, Dr. Glen Van Arsdell, was designated the Head of Provincial paediatric congenital cardiac surgery. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, (CHEO) is the second site.
The division reports to the Department of Surgery at SickKids for operational purposes and reports to the Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, for academic purposes. We also work very closely with our partner divisions which together comprise the Labatt Family Heart Centre.