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About the Department of Pediatric Cardiology at University Hospital Giessen UKGM
The Department of Pediatric Cardiology at the University Hospital Giessen UKGM specializes in the diagnostics and treatment of all types of congenital and acquired cardiovascular diseases in newborns, children and adolescents. In addition, the department is a supra-regional Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center (medical care is provided on an inpatient and outpatient basis). The department pays special attention to the treatment of congenital heart defects using open surgery or interventional procedures, medical and electrophysiological treatment of arrhythmias, and severe types of heart failure. The department is one of the leading centers in Europe specializing in heart transplantation in children. The department is headed by Prof. Dr. med. Christian Jux.
The department has two operating rooms, in which doctors annually perform more than 500 operations to treat congenital heart defects in children of all age groups. The surgical treatment is carried out in close collaboration with pediatric cardiac surgeons. The spectrum is also complemented by interventional catheter procedures and hybrid interventions. In addition, the department is equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, for example, a 3 Tesla MRI (more than 800 examinations annually), cardiac catheterization laboratory (more than 600 examinations and therapeutic procedures), and 3D rotational angiography device.
The department has many specialized outpatient clinics, in particular, outpatient clinics for pulmonary hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, conditions after heart transplantation and Fontan procedure, etc. The department receives about 8,000 young patients on an outpatient basis annually.
The key surgical intervention in the department is heart transplantation. In total, this operation has been performed 75 times in Giesse since 1988. The frequency of such interventions is about 8-10 cases per year. In the overwhelming majority of cases (56 out of 75), the patients were children who were younger than one year old at the time of the operation. Thus, the University Hospital Giessen UKGM holds a leading position in Europe in the field of heart transplantation in infants.
The department’s range of medical services includes:
- Invasive diagnostic and treatment techniques
- Diagnostic services
- Left and right heart catheter examinations (access through the thigh, axillary region, shoulder, neck, infraclavicular region)
- Electrophysiological examinations
- Intravascular ultrasound examinations
- Myocardial biopsy
- Lung biopsy
- Therapeutic services
- Atrioseptostomy (Rashkind procedure)
- Atrial septal dilatation (including pulmonary hypertension therapy)
- Angioplasty
- Drug and mechanical thrombectomy
- Electrical and pharmacological cardioversion
- Balloon dilatation of the heart valves
- Pulmonary valve (including critical pulmonary valve stenosis)
- Aortic valve (including critical stenosis of the aortic valve)
- Mitral valve
- Tricuspid valve
- Balloon dilatation (stent implantation) in vascular stenosis
- Congenital and acquired pulmonary stenosis
- Patent ductus arteriosus
- Aortic isthmus stenosis
- Coronary artery stenosis (including intracoronary thrombolysis)
- Stenosis of the pelvic arteries, lower limbs, kidneys and supra-aortic vessels
- Occlusal techniques using spirals and probes
- Patent ductus arteriosus
- Atrial and interventricular septal defects
- Open oval window
- Coronary arterial fistulas
- Peripheral and pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas
- Treatment of arrhythmias
- High-frequency ablation
- Pacemaker implantation
- Implantation of automatic defibrillators
- Thrombus fragmentation
- BROVIAC catheters (for example, in the treatment of primary pulmonary hypertension)
- Diagnostic services
- Non-invasive diagnostic and treatment techniques
- Diagnostic services
- ECG, including Holter ECG, stress ECG
- 24-hour blood pressure monitoring
- Cardiac ultrasound/echocardiography with color Doppler ultrasonography
- Transesophageal echocardiography
- Echocardiography, including stress echocardiography
- Vascular ultrasound (dopplerography, color duplex sonography)
- X-ray examination of the lungs and heart
- Pulse oximetry
- Orthostatic test
- Monitoring of work of pacemakers, defibrillators
- Pulmonary function tests
- Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Laboratory tests
- Therapeutic services
- Congenital and acquired heart defects
- Heart failure
- Myocarditis and endocarditis
- Cardiomyopathies
- Kawasaki syndrome and other vascular diseases
- Arterial hypertension
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Arrhythmias
- Syncope, orthostatic/vasovagal dysregulation
- Diagnostic services
- Other medical services
Curriculum vitae
Since April 2017, Prof. Dr. med. Christian Jux has been the Head of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology at the University Hospital Giessen UKGM. He also holds the position of W3 Professor in Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine with a focus on Pediatric Cardiology at the Justus Liebig University Giessen. Previously, he headed the Department of Pediatric Cardiology at the University Hospital Muenster, including teaching activities in the Department of Cardiology.
The doctor studied Human Medicine, Philosophy and Medical Ethics at the University of Göttingen, at the Faculty of Medicine at the King's College London and at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto (1987 - 1994). In 1996, he received his doctorate at the Heidelberg University as part of scholarship from the German Research Foundation. The habilitation followed in 2007. Prior to the appointment as Head of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology at the University Hospital Giessen UKGM, Prof. Jux worked in the hospitals of Heidelberg, Hanover, Göttingen and Bad Oeynhausen. Since 2008 till 2013, he worked as Senior Physician and Head of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the Pediatric Heart Center in Giessen. Then he was appointed as Head of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology at the University Hospital Muenster.
The main fields of the doctor's clinical activities include catheter treatment of heart pathologies in newborns, children and adults with congenital heart defects, as well as intensive care in children.
The research interests of Prof. Jux are focused on the development and clinical application of new cardiac catheterization techniques. He took part in the development of new implants. He also studies the functioning of cardiovascular implants in a growing body. Prof. Jux also participates in fundamental research. In the next few months, it is planned to establish the Research Laboratory for Pediatric Cardiology in Giessen, which will conduct experimental trials in growth and metabolic processes during prenatal and postnatal periods of development.
Photo of the doctor: (c) UKGM - Universitätsklinikum Gießen und Marburg GmbH