A Legacy of Healing Hearts: SSM health Cardinal Glennon’s Cardiac Surgery Program

For decades, Charles Huddleston, MD, and Andrew Fiore, MD, have been the heart of the nationally recognized cardiac surgery program at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital – over the years caring for thousands of children with a wide range of heart conditions needing surgical repair or even heart transplants. All their success, they say, is because of a shared commitment to excellence and a team approach to care. That collegiality has been in place since the hospital was founded, and they say the team, which now includes surgeons Corinne Tan, MD, and Peter pastuszko, MD, along with several dedicated support teams, has an unselfish approach to helping each other do what’s best for patients.

Question: What does that “unselfish approach” mean?

Dr. Fiore: It’s about working together to achieve great results without focusing on who gets the credit. We have a group of people – from physicians to nurses and many others – who collaborate closely to care for children with heart problems. I think the process fosters excellence and innovation.

Question: The program is consistently ranked by U.S. news & World Report as one of the best in the country. What are some of the highlights of the history of cardiac surgery at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital?

Dr. Huddleston: We have been ranked nationally for many years. I remember the talented physicians before me – Val Willman, MD, and other doctors at Saint Louis University were the frist surgeons in the Midwest to perform an adult heart transplant in 1972. Their colleague, Glenn Pennington, MD, performed the first pediatric heart transplant at Glennon in 1988. He also was a national leader in the research and use of ventricular assist devices (VADs) that could be used as a bridge to transplantation.

Dr. Fiore: I’ll add that Dr. Pennington was a pioneer of ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) starting in 1982,which is a heart-lung bypass device that can temporarily take over the functions of the lungs and heart. Today ECMO can be employed emergently at the bedside in the intensive care unit or the emergency room and continues to save countless lives. dr. Huddleston then expanded the program here to include novel treatments for congenital heart defects. With more adults than children living with congenital heart disease now,he was at the forefront of helping us establish a pediatric-to-adult congenital heart surgery program.

Question: What have been some of the biggest advances in heart care for children over the past three decades?

Dr. Fiore: A major advance has been the start of our fetal heart program, which allows us to detect heart defects before birth.