Seattle Children’s Heart Center
With 28 clinic locations across Washington, Alaska and Montana, our heart program continues to expand our reach to provide top pediatric care close to home to more kids in our region.
Contact the Heart Center
The most experienced pediatric cardiologists and heart surgeons in the Pacific Northwest
At Seattle Children’s Heart Center, we diagnose and treat every kind of heart problem. Whether your child’s condition is mild or critical, we offer all the cardiac care they need in a child-focused, healing environment. It’s why so many families seek treatment here for complex congenital heart defects and other heart diseases. We help you coordinate travel and housing so you can stay focused on your child.
Our pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons have more advanced training and experience operating and performing procedures on babies, children and teens than at any other children's hospital in the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle Children’s Heart Center has consistently been recognized as one of the best heart surgery and pediatric cardiology programs by U.S. News & World Report since it began ranking medical centers more than 30 years ago.
We're There Where You Need Us
Meet Shirley
Shortly after birth, Shirley underwent open-heart surgery at Seattle Children’s to treat a rare congenital heart defect called truncus arteriosus. After returning home to Tacoma, Shirley’s family quickly established care with Josiah Penalver, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at Seattle Children’s South Sound Cardiology Clinic — just a short drive from their home.
“It’s such a relief to have Shirley’s heart team nearby,” says Shirley’s mom, Brianna. “Seattle Children's South Sound Cardiology is like having Seattle Children's Hospital in Tacoma.”
Why Choose Us
At Seattle Children’s Heart Center, our outcomes are among the best in the nation for simple to complex heart procedures and transplants for children. Our heart surgeons perform more pediatric cardiac procedures than any other providers in the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI) region.
Our Heart Center Services
Heart Surgery and Heart Transplant Program
Seattle Children’s pediatric heart surgeons are experts in all procedures from simple, like closing a hole in the heart, to complex, like switching the placement of major blood vessels. We performed a successful transplant for a baby the day he was born, making him the youngest infant in the Pacific Northwest to receive a new heart.
Heart Failure Program
Seattle Children’s Heart Failure Program is the only one in the Pacific Northwest with the depth of expertise to offer every type of therapy for heart failure in children. We have the medical and surgical expertise, and the latest technology, to handle the most complex cases. Often this means we can improve a child’s heart function and quality of life and also avoid or delay a heart transplant. Each year, we provide coordinated, comprehensive care for more than 350 children with heart failure.
Cardiac Catheterization and Hybrid Procedures
Each year, we help hundreds of children avoid open-heart surgery by using new techniques and innovative devices. With cardiac catheterization (or a heart catheter), our pediatric cardiologists can treat heart valve disease, such as aortic or pulmonary stenosis, and many other conditions. For certain complex heart problems, we perform hybrid procedures, which combine catheterization and surgery.
Customized Care Plans
Your child’s cardiology care is custom-made for them. Seattle Children’s offers more than a dozen specialized clinics and programs within the Heart Center to diagnose, treat and, when needed, provide ongoing care and support for specific heart problems, like heart failure and single-ventricle defects. Individualized pediatric heart care starts even before birth with our Fetal Diagnosis Program.
Heart Conditions We Treat
We offer treatment from birth through young adulthood for the whole range of heart diseases, including these:
Single-ventricle defects
Septal defects (hole in the heart)
Valve defects
Learn more about your child's treatment options
If you have a referral, please call us at 206-987-2515. For a Heart Surgery second opinion, please fill out this form. A second opinion is a chance to confirm the features of your child's disease and get advice on the best treatment options.
Paying for Care
Learn about paying for care at Seattle Children's, such as insurance coverage, billing and financial assistance.
Contact the Heart Center at 206-987-2515 for an appointment, a second opinion or more information.