The Division of Cardiology is committed to furthering scientific knowledge and is conducting clinical research in areas related to the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric heart disease. Research is currently being conducted in the following areas: interventional catheterization, heart transplantation, heart failure, electrophysiology, Marfan Syndrome, quality of life and fetal medicine. The Division participates in numerous national studies that involve collaboration with many other institutions across the United States. Some of the multi-center studies are listed below: - Pediatric Heart Network: The Marfan trial: trial of beta blocker therapy (atenolol) vs. angiotensin II receptor blocker therapy (losartan) in individuals with Marfan syndrome. This collaborative study is sponsored by the NIH and aims to determine which drug therapy is more effective for patients with Marfan Syndrome.
- Pediatric Heart Transplant Study (PHTS): PHTS is a multi-center study that is dedicated to collecting information on pediatric heart transplant recipients and analyzing trends and outcomes to improve patient care.
- Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry (PCMR): PCMR has successfully compiled a substantial epidemiological and clinical database which has helped clinicians observe the natural history of cardiomyopathy in the pediatric population, and evaluate the effectiveness of current medical and surgical management. The PCMR is continually collecting data to improve the understanding and treatment of pediatric cardiomyopathy.
- Joint Council on Congenital Heart Disease: National Collaborative to Improve Care of Children with Complex Congenital Heart Disease. This network provides opportunities for pediatric cardiologists to collaborate on quality improvement and research projects. This first specific study is implementing a quality improvement project intended to improve survival and quality of life of infants with HLHS during the "interstage" period between discharge from Stage 1 Norwood and admission for Stage 2 bidirectional Glenn.
- Congenital Cardiovascular Interventional Study Consortium (CCISC): The goal of this multi-center study is to provide children and adults with congenital heart disease thorough and systematic comparisons of percutaneous versus surgical procedures. Investigators are also assessing the techniques being performed for success rates and incidence of complication.
- Quality of Life Assessment in the Pediatric Cardiac Population: Testing the Pediatric Cardiac Quality of Life Inventory (PCQLI): The goal of this study is to evaluate the reliability, validity, responsiveness and generalizability of the PCQLI questionnaire. Hopefully after testing this tool will be used routinely in the clinical setting.
Click here for a list of recent publications. Barbara Deal, MD
Her major clinical research interests include surgical therapy for arrhythmias particularly in patients with Fontan physiology, late post-operative arrhythmias in patients with repaired congenital heart disease, sudden death in young patients, genetic basis of arrhythmias and autonomic dysfunction disorders. Dr. Deal is also a member of the Medical Advisory Board for the Children’s Heart Foundation. Elfriede Pahl, MD
She has many research interests including heart transplantation, cardiomyopathy and heart failure in children, Kawasaki disease and coronary abnormalities in children. She was one of the primary investigators for the multi-center clinical trial of Carvedilol in children with heart failure which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. She is also the local principal investigator for the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study and an NIH funded multi-center Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry study. Dr. Pahl is on the advisory board for the Saving Tiny Hearts Society and was recently elected to be the Vice Chair to the pediatric council of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT). Recent international presentations include: - Exercise Stress Tests in Children with Heart Failure: Peak Oxygen Consumption and Endurance Correlate with Adverse Cardiac Events. Presented at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Annual Meeting in Paris 2009.
- Quality of Life in Adult Survivors 10+ Years Post Pediatric Heart Transplantation. Presented at International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Annual Meeting in Boston 2008.
- Ten Year Survivors of Pediatric Heart Transplantation: Current Status and Increased Incidence of Serious Complications between 5 and 10 Years Post Transplantation. Presented at American Transplant Congress in Toronto 2008.
David Wax, MD
His main research focus is pediatric interventional catheterization. He is the local primary investigator for the Congenital Cardiovascular Interventional Study Consortium (CCISC) which is a multi-center collaborative collecting information in different areas related to interventional catheterization. Dr. Wax was also CMH’s primary investigator for the Amplatzer atrial septal defect occlusion device trial, which led to the device being FDA approved for use in pediatrics. Nina Gotteiner, MD
Her research interests are primarily neonatal cardiology and fetal echocardiography. She is especially interested in screening for congenital heart disease and three dimensional reconstruction of fetal echocardiography. Her recent publications include a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled Electrophysiologic Characteristics of Fetal AV Block in January 2008 and an article published in May of 2009 in the Journal of Ultrasound Medicine entitled Quality of 2- and 3-Dimensional Fast Acquisition Fetal Cardiac Imaging at 18 to 22 Weeks – Ramifications for Screening. Sabrina Tsao, MD
Her main research interests include resynchronization in pediatric patients and the prevention of sudden cardiac death in children. She recently gave two presentations at the CardioRhythm conference in Hong Kong. She is currently the local primary investigator on a multi-institutional study comparing the intra-cardiac lateral tunnel and the extra-cardiac conduit Fontan procedures. Jeffrey Gossett, MD
His research interests include cardiac catheterization and pediatric heart transplantation. He recently presented a study for the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation annual meeting entitled Decline in Rejection in the First Year after Pediatric Cardiac Transplantation: A Multi-Institutional Study. He is currently studying the long term effects of in-utero anthracycline exposure as well as the incidence of coronary artery fistulas in pediatric heart transplant recipients. His is also an investigator on the multi-institutional National Collaborative to Improve Care of Children with Complex Congenital Heart Disease. Nguyenvu Nguyen, MD
His most recent research project was a study of the early outcomes in patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome with ventriculo-coronary connections. His other interests include delivering cardiac care to pediatric patients in emerging/developing countries. Tania Saroli, MD
Dr. Saroli is currently the primary investigator for multi-center PCQLI Quality of Life study. She is also the PI for a study entitled The Association Between Biochemical Markers and Post-Fontan Cardiac Index which is also a multi-center study. | 
