Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Ranked No. 3 in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report for 2014-15, the Cardiac Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia performs more than 850 cardiothoracic surgeries — including 500 open heart procedures — and more than 1,200 cardiac catheterizations per year. Not only was CHOP the first hospital in the country entirely dedicated to pediatric medicine in 1855, researchers at the hospital were the first to develop the balloon catheter for treating certain heart defects. CHOP is one of seven hospitals to receive funding from The Pediatric Heart Network, a group of hospitals formed by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study pediatric heart disease. The hospital also offers one of the largest fetal heart programs in the country.
