December 23, 2014

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Texas Children’s Transition Medicine Team hosted a dinner this fall at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women in conjunction with the Annual Chronic Illness and Disability Conference. More than 100 people interested in transition medicine attended to learn about Texas Children’s program and the progress being made in this new branch of medicine.

Transition medicine describes the planned process of moving pediatric patients into the adult health care system in a way that optimizes their health and ability to function. Texas Children’s is dedicated to helping these patients smoothly transfer to adult care without a decline or break in treatment needed for optimal health.

David Gonzalez, a Texas Children’s patient and student at Saint Thomas University, kicked off the dinner with his inspirational story and spoke to the importance of a solid transition program. He encouraged the audience to support the hospital’s efforts so that future patients will not have the same difficulties he had during his transition period.

The October 2 dinner also offered an opportunity to award the second Benjamin B. Ligums Scholar to Dr. David Hall, medical director for the Harris Health System’s El Franco Lee Health Center. The scholar program allows a provider in the community to receive training on the adult special needs population as well as project management assistance in setting up a referral process between them and their surrounding pediatric providers. Hall will build upon the successes of Dr. Elizabeth Bosquez, the first Benjamin B. Ligums Scholar.

This night also celebrated and acknowledged two remarkable families who have dedicated themselves to the transition medicine cause with their generous philanthropic support. The Ligums family was acknowledged for their support in creating the Benjamin B. Ligums Scholar Program, and the Robbins family was acknowledged for their commitment to support the Annual Chronic Illness and Disability Conference each year.

The transition medicine team has been working together for more than two years and has made great progress. They have focused on:

Readiness – preparing patients to self manage their disease and succeed in the adult world.
Handoff – ensuring that patients are not lost to follow-up during the move from the pediatric to the adult health care system.
Transfer – guaranteeing an adult provider for our patients to transition to at the appropriate age.

For a more comprehensive look inside the transition medicine plan, visit www.texaschildrens.org/transitionmedicine. For questions or additional information, please contact Caitlyn Barrow at crbarrow@texaschildrens.org or 713-798-3323, or Kris Barton at krbarton@texaschildrens.org or Ext. 4-1265.

December 17, 2014
The Texas Children’s Hospital Division of Neurosurgery was well represented at the recent American Association of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting in Amelia Island, Fla. The division had eight posters accepted for presentation. Of those eight, three were selected as “Top Posters.” In addition, Neurosurgery had four abstracts accepted for oral presentation.
Top Poster Presentations
  • Comparison of Patient Populations and Utilization for Hypothalamic Hamartoma Treatment
    Dr. Sandi Lam, Dr. Daniel Curry, Dr. Thomas Luerssen, Iwen Elaine Pan, PhD
  • Use of a Formal Assessment Instrument of Evaluation of Resident Operative Skills in Pediatric Neurosurgery
    Caroline Hadley, Dr. Sandi Lam, Valentina Briceno Marmol, RN, Dr. Thomas Luerssen, Dr. Andrew Jea
  • Endonasal Endoscopic Resection of Pediatric Craniopharyngiomas
    Dr. Sohum Desai, Dr. William Whitehead
Poster Presentations
  • Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy and Ventriculoperitoneal Shunting: A Comparative Effectiveness Study with MarketScan Administrative Data
    Dr. Sandi Lam, Dr. Dominic Harris, Dr. Thomas Luerssen, Iwen Elaine Pan, PhD
  • Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunt Placement in Children: A Model of Hospitalization Cost
    Dr. Sandi Lam, Dr. Visish Srinivasan, Dr. Thomas Luerssen, Iwen Elaine Pan, PhD
  • Using Pediatrics National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) Data to Examine 30-Day Outcomes of Craniosynostosis Surgery
    Dr. Jared Fridley, Dr. Sandi Lam, Dr. Thomas Luerssen, Iwen Elaine Pan, PhD
  • Using Pediatrics National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) Data to Examine 30-day Outcomes of Posterior Fossa Tumor Surgery
    Dr. Sandi Lam, Dr. Jared Fridley, Dr. Andrew Jea, Dr. Thomas Luerssen, Iwen Elaine Pan, PhD
  • The Safety and Efficacy of Use of Low Molecular Weight Heparin in Pediatric Neurosurgical Patients
    Dr. David Gonda, Dr. Jared Fridley, Sheila Ryan, JD, MPH, CCRP, Valentina Briceno Marmol, RN, Dr. Sandi Lam, Dr. Thomas Luerssen, Dr. Andrew Jea
Oral Presentations
  • Outcomes of Pediatric Autologous Cranioplasty after Decompressive Craniectomy: A Multicenter Study
    Dr. Sandi Lam, Pediatric Outcomes Workgroup
  • Streamlining Fetal Repair of Myelomeningoceles
    Dr. Jared Fridley, Dr.William Whitehead
  • The Efficacy of Routine Use of Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 in Occipitocervical and Atlantoaxial Fusions of the Pediatric Spine
    Dr. Christina Sayama, Caroline Hadley, Valentina Briceno Marmol, RN, Dr. Huy Dinh, Sheila Ryan, JD, MPH, CCRP, Dr. Daniel Fulkerson, Dr. Thomas Luerssen, Dr. Andrew Jea
  • Acute Implantatationo Reduced Graphene Oxide Scaffolds in Spinal Cord Injury in Rats
    Dr. Jared Fridley, Dr. Thomas Luerssen, Dr. Andrew Jea
December 16, 2014

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Texas Children’s Hospital recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of its heart transplant program. Since its inception in 1984, Texas Children’s Heart Center has performed more than 300 heart transplants, making the program one of the most active and largest in the nation.

A team of experts – including heart transplant surgeons, pediatric cardiologists, transplant coordinators and dietitians, child life specialists, social workers, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, infectious diseases experts, immunology physicians and dedicated nurses – focuses on each aspect of the patient’s care. The team’s experience, compassion and access to state-of-the-art facilities helps children in need of heart transplants survive and thrive.

“The true results of our team’s exceptional work over the past 30 years can be seen in the hundreds of success stories of our patient families,” said Texas Children’s Heart Failure, Cardiomyopathy and Cardiac Transplantation Medical Director Dr. Jeff Dreyer. “As one of the largest programs in the nation, our experience in treating patients with heart failure is leading the way in positive outcomes.”

The multidisciplinary team at Texas Children’s has transplanted hearts in newborns to young adults from across the United States. Due to the transplant team’s unique expertise, Texas Children’s Heart Transplant Program sees some of the rarest and most complex cases, resulting in the best possible outcome for each child.

“Texas Children’s has been a pioneer in all aspects of pediatric cardiovascular surgery, and our heart transplant program is a shining example of this,” said Heart and Lung Transplant Program Surgical Director Dr. Jeffrey Heinle. “Over the past 30 years, Texas Children’s has consistently led innovations in this field, bringing hope to children and adolescents from all over in need of a heart transplant.”

Texas Children’s Heart Center is on the cutting-edge of ventricular assist device (VAD) placement, which provides circulatory support until a transplant can be received. The center offers the best VAD tailored to each child’s size, diagnosis and needs for both short- and long-term assistance.

Texas Children’s Heart Center is ranked No. 2 nationally in cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report.

To learn more about Texas Children’s Heart Transplant Program, click here.

December 9, 2014

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Texas Children’s announced on December 4 our plan to build an eight-bed special isolation unit at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus. This unit will be designed for children with highly contagious infectious diseases, such as pandemic influenza, enterovirus D68, Ebola, and many others. Additionally, we announced the state’s designation of our organization as a pediatric Ebola treatment center.

About the isolation unit

This new isolation unit at Texas Children’s will be similar to the four other biocontainment units in the country. Such units are equipped and staffed to care for patients with contagious infectious diseases.

“We will build a state-of-the-art isolation unit designed and staffed to provide the highest quality care and treatment for infants and children with serious or life-threatening infectious diseases of public health significance, always with the greatest possible margin of safety,” said Texas Children’s Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline. “We believe this will be an indispensable resource to our local community, Texas and the nation.”

This new unit will incorporate all of the latest scientific and technological approaches to biocontainment, including negative air pressure, laminar air flow, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration, separate ventilation, anterooms, biosafety cabinets, a point-of-care laboratory, special security access, autoclaves and incinerators. There will be two levels of protection from airborne particles, as well as a comprehensive waste management plan, among other safety features.

It will be fully equipped to care for any infant or child with a serious communicable disease, with all of the measures available to assure safety of the health care team, other patients and their families. A point-of-care biosafety level 3 laboratory will enable the care team to monitor the progress of patients and perform rapid detection methods to identify unusual pathogens. Housed at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, the unit is anticipated to have capacity for eight patients, all in private rooms.

This specialized unit will be led by Dr. Gordon Schutze, who will serve as medical director, as well as Dr. Judith Campbell and Dr. Amy Arrington, who will be the unit’s associate medical directors. It will be staffed by an elite team of experienced critical care and infectious disease nurses and physicians, all of whom will have successfully completed an intensive advanced certification course and practicum in infection control, hospital epidemiology and management of infectious diseases in the critical care setting. The staff will maintain their certification through participation in ongoing educational activities.

Kline said Texas Children’s is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to design, build, equip and staff the unit, which is expected to be operational within nine months and cost approximately $16 million to build.

“I could not be more impressed with Texas Children’s desire to run towards issues of critical importance to the health and well-being of the children of Texas and our nation,” said Dr. Brett Giroir, director of the Texas Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response and chief executive officer of the Texas A&M Health Science Center.

Caring for potential Ebola patients

Since the summer, Texas Children’s has been implementing a detailed plan to identify, isolate and treat suspected cases of Ebola, if necessary. As a result, following a visit from the CDC, the State of Texas designated Texas Children’s as a pediatric Ebola treatment center.

As part of the hospital’s preparation, specific protocols were developed outlining steps staff would take if and when a patient with Ebola symptoms arrived at a Texas Children’s facility. Additionally, in order to decrease the risk of exposure and provide the complex care required, the hospital identified specific areas and units responsible for caring for any patient with Ebola. The health care workers in those areas have received intense, ongoing training and simulation to help them prepare.

“This unit is part of the hospital’s long-term vision to care for children with the most serious and complex medical conditions,” said Michelle Riley-Brown, president of Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus. “Our leadership’s decision to build this new isolation unit at West Campus speaks volumes about our staff and employees’ skill, expertise and experience here. Our agility and responsiveness were tested just a few months ago when we had a patient with suspected Ebola under investigation. Our handling of that case demonstrated our competency here at West Campus, and it boosted the entire organization’s confidence in the readiness across the system.”

West Campus staff and employess helped lead the way for the organization to refine our protocols for care, and now Texas Children’s will lead the way for centers across the country. If you have questions about the unit or an interest in being trained to be part of the care team that will staff this unit, please contact your leader for more information.

Return to Ebola Response site.

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Dr. Simon Kayyal, an assistant professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine, recently joined Texas Children’s neurology team. He will develop and co-lead the Neuro-Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Neuro-NICU) with Texas Children’s Neonatologist Dr. Jeffrey Kaiser, a professor of pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Kayyal received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston before completing his residency in pediatrics and child neurology at UT Southwestern Children’s Hospital of Dallas.

During his postdoctoral training, Kayyal observed many children and adolescent patients with irreversible brain injuries, which immediately sparked his interest in neonatal neurology. Kayyal thought, “The earlier we diagnose and treat neurologic disease, the better chance we have for improving the developmental and overall outcome of our premature and critically ill infants.”

This common goal fueled Kayyal’s passion to collaborate with neonatologists to develop Texas Children’s Neuro-NICU program. “Our goal is to help babies born with severe neurologic issues be able to enjoy life without impairments,” said Kayyal, who will also create a protocol to determine where newborns will follow-up once they have been discharged from the Neuro-NICU.

Just like a cardiovascular NICU houses newborns with heart disease, infants with neurologic disease would be treated in the Neuro-NICU where they would receive multidisciplinary care from specialists in neonatology, neurology, neurosurgery, developmental medicine and neuroradiology. The plan is to also include an MRI machine in the Neuro-NICU that would eliminate the need to transport unstable infants to other parts of the hospital.

“We want to minimize families’ anxieties during this critical time,” said Kayyal. “When they see neurologists, neonatologists, and neurosurgeons working in unison to determine the best treatment plan for their child, they know their infant is receiving the best care possible to improve their outcomes.”

The Neuro-NICU service will eventually include Texas Children’s other neurology services, like the hypothermia program led by Dr. Kaiser. The hypothermia program provides whole body cooling treatment for newborns who are oxygen deprived at birth, reducing their potential risk for severe neurologic damage.

“Dr. Kayyal is bringing an exciting vision to the neurology team with plans to better serve our patients and their families,” said Dr. Gary Clark, chief of Neurology and Developmental Neuroscience at Texas Children’s. “We are pleased to have him join our team to bring more capabilities and expertise to our division.”

In addition to this new role, Kayyal lectures medical students rotating through the neurology clerkship to help them prepare for the neurology shelf exams. He also provides specialized lectures to residents and fellows to prep them for the board exams and get better acquainted with the hospital and outpatient settings.

“I am excited to pursue my passion at Texas Children’s and work alongside some of the best physicians in our specialty,” said Kayyal. “Returning home to Houston is an added plus.”

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Texas Children’s Hospital hosted its second national conference December 4 and 5, addressing a series of fatal conditions known as coronary artery anomalies.

Coronary artery anomalies are a group of rare congenital heart defects that have been associated with coronary ischemia, myocardial infarction, and sudden death. It is the second most common cause of sudden death in young healthy athletes.

Diagnosing this can be challenging because many individuals with the condition have no symptoms. Those who are symptomatic complain of fainting, chest pain, or palpitations, especially with exercise.

How to best treat a child or young adult with cardiac artery anomalies is a subject of debate in the medical community. Most physicians agree that surgery is necessary for patients who show evidence of decreased blood flow to the heart tissue, but how to treat those these patients who have no physical complaints and who show no evidence of reduced blood flow to the heart is unclear.

Such issues were discussed at the Coronary Artery Anomalies Symposium at the Pavilion for Women. Almost 90 people attended the conference and speakers from 16 leading heart institutions provided a dedicated forum to discuss the diagnosis and management of patients with coronary artery anomalies.

A panel discussion with families affected by the condition brought special attention to the psycho-social needs of patients with cardiac anomalies as well as their parents and siblings. Other talks focused on the most appropriate imaging modalities, identification of risk factors, different management strategies based on best available evidence, surgical techniques, and counseling of patients and families regarding treatment and exercise recommendations.

November 25, 2014

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As you know, Texas Children’s is a pretty special place. Everyone here, no matter their role, works together to create a healthier future for children and women. That common goal binds us together in a community that is unlike any other.

To recognize and celebrate that bond, Texas Children’s Human Resources Department launched on November 20 an exciting new culture initiative and website that showcases the infinite passion each one of us has for the mission of Texas Children’s: to create a healthier future for children and women throughout our global community by leading in patient care, education and research.

The culture initiative also formalizes the four core values that underpin who we are and what we do – Embrace Freedom, Lead Tirelessly, Live Compassionately and Amplify Unity. By living each value, we continually strengthen the already strong culture we have in place, perpetually extend our sense of community, and constantly maintain a spirit of our own. This new website and work will become a tangible platform from which we will grow and advance our culture as we lead the charge to accelerate health care.

You’ll be hearing more about our values and the website throughout the year. For now, you can visit the site at infinitepassion.org and enjoy the popcorn treats and new badge cards that were provided to you as a thank you for your commitment and service and a token of what’s to come as our culture initiative gains momentum over the next year.

CEO Mark A. Wallace personally passed out the treats on the day of the launch to employees at Texas Children’s Health Center – The Woodlands. During that special visit, Wallace shared his infectious smile as well as stories about the wonderful organization we all have helped create.

“As I reflect on the last 25 years at Texas Children’s, I am deeply thankful for the incredible impact our culture and our work community has had on all of us,” Wallace said. “I believe in each and every one of you and know that, while our mission is compelling, it is our people and our collective human experiences that have made a difference in the way we deliver on our mission.”

Wallace said he is excited about the launch of the culture initiative and that because of it for the next year, the next 25 years and beyond, our culture and values will be secured in stone as a testament to our infinite passion.

“Texas Children’s mission, culture and the infinite passion of our people are the heart of our past, present and future successes,” Wallace said. “These elements differentiate us from all other health care systems and employers. Our culture is amazing. It touches lives. It is simply so profound that I want it to last forever.”