Our Mission
We seek to leverage the power of collaboration, innovation and data to improve the lives of patients and families affected by congenital heart disease.
History of the CCRC
In 2013, Dr. Christopher Petit (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta) initiated a multicenter retrospective research study together with Dr. Bryan Goldstein (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital). That study, which focused on predictors of outcomes following transcatheter therapy for congenital aortic valve stenosis, culminated in an oral presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in 2014 and, subsequently, the publication of several manuscripts.
In 2015, based upon the success of this multicenter model, Drs. Petit and Goldstein invited Drs. Andrew Glatz (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) and Athar Qureshi (Texas Children’s Hospital), like-minded colleagues at other large congenital heart programs, to embark on a new multicenter research project. This four-center project focused on predictors of outcomes following initial therapy (transcatheter or surgical) for infants with pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum, a complex form of congenital heart disease.
From the outset, it was clear that Drs. Petit, Goldstein, Glatz and Qureshi – who each had an independent track record of success in clinical and academic pediatric cardiology – would come together to generate a collaborative study that was far more meaningful than could have been imagined by any single investigator.
The advantages of this multicenter academic collaboration were apparent to all: increased sample size, greater generalizability of the results due to the broad number of institutions included, and consistency among centers with regards to quality of imaging and general approach in the catheterization laboratory. At the same time, all four participating institutions shared a similar programmatic vision: offering high quality sub-specialty cardiac care to children and adults with congenital heart disease. Further, all four centers had catheterization laboratories known for innovation in care delivery, excellence in outcomes, and a track record in making important clinical and academic contributions to the field of interventional pediatric cardiology. From this four investigator and center collaboration, the CCRC was born.
Since its formal inception in 2015, the collaborative has taken on several large multicenter projects:
- Outcomes and Associations Following Decompression of the Right Ventricle in Infants with Pulmonary Atresia with Intact Ventricular Septum
- A Comparison Between Patent Ductus Arteriosus Stent and Modified Blalock-Taussig Shunt as Palliation for Infants with Ductal-Dependent Pulmonary Blood Flow
- Management of the Symptomatic Neonate with Tetralogy of Fallot
Results of these studies, and related ancillary projects, have been presented at major national meetings, including the American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA), Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) and Pediatric and Adult Interventional Cardiac Symposium (PICS-AICS). Manuscripts have been published in high impact journals, including: Circulation, Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, Catheterization & Cardiovascular Interventions, Congenital Heart Disease, Cardiology in the Young and others. Awards received to date include the “Outstanding Research Award in Pediatric Cardiology” presented by the AHA Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young presented to Dr. Glatz in 2016, and the “Best Oral Abstract Award” presented by the PICS-AICS steering committee to Dr. Qureshi in 2017. A number of ancillary projects and new research projects are in various stages of development and completion at this time. Our up-to-date bibliography may be found online.