I. OVERVIEW
The Heart Center – Vietnam National Children’s Hospital was established in 2015 (developed from the former Cardiology Department). It is one of the largest tertiary pediatric cardiology centers in Viet Nam and a trusted destination for children with cardiovascular diseases.
Each year, the Center performs:
- Over 1,000 open-heart surgeries
- Over 500 closed-heart surgeries
- Over 500 cardiac interventions and electrophysiology procedures
These services have saved and restored healthy hearts for tens of thousands of Vietnamese children, with a mortality rate below 3%, comparable to leading cardiac centers in the region and worldwide.
With more than 40 years of experience and expertise in pediatric cardiology (dating back to the early years of the Hospital), and with a highly experienced team trained and continuously updated through international cooperation, training, and technology transfer programs—together with modern diagnostic and treatment equipment—the Heart Center provides high-quality services for the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of pediatric cardiovascular diseases, meeting regional standards and moving closer to those of high-income countries.
- Address: 10th Floor, 15-storey Building, Vietnam National Children’s Hospital, 18/879 La Thanh Street, Lang Ward, Hanoi
- Phone number: 0329601234
- Email: heartcenter@nch.gov.vn
Vision
All Vietnamese children can access comprehensive healthcare services meeting international standards at the Heart Center – Vietnam National Children’s Hospital.
Mission
“For a healthy heart for Vietnamese children”
II. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
The Heart Center includes 04 departments and 01 affiliated unit, comprising:
- Division of Cardiology
- Division of Cardio-Vascular Surgery
- Surgical Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
- Electrophysiology & Outpatient Clinics
- Division of Cardio-Vascular Anesthesia
- Cardiac Interventions and Electrophysiology Unit (affiliated unit)
Human resources: 162 staff members, including:
- 45 physicians (05 PhDs; 01 Senior Specialist Level II; 39 MSc/MDs)
- 111 nurses and technicians
- 03 nursing assistants
- 03 technical staff
III. COMMON CONDITIONS TREATED
1) Congenital heart diseases
Ventricular septal defect (VSD), atrial septal defect (ASD), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), atrioventricular septal defect, Tetralogy of Fallot, transposition of the great arteries, pulmonary venous anomalies, double outlet right ventricle, pulmonary valve atresia, anomalous coronary artery origin, aortopulmonary window; valvular diseases (mitral/tricuspid/aortic/pulmonary stenosis or regurgitation); interrupted aortic arch, coarctation of the aorta; complex single-ventricle physiology, etc.
2) Acquired heart diseases
Rheumatic heart disease, myocarditis, pediatric heart failure, pediatric hypertension, Kawasaki disease, etc.
3) Arrhythmias
Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), atrial tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, Wolff–Parkinson–White (WPW) syndrome, ventricular tachycardia, atrioventricular (AV) block, etc.
IV. SERVICES PROVIDED
1) Current services
Comprehensive pediatric cardiology services, including:
- Cardiovascular screening and consultation
- Echocardiography for structural and functional assessment
- Computerized ECG, Holter ECG, and exercise stress testing for arrhythmia diagnosis
- Surgery for congenital heart defect repair
- Interventional cardiology for the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart disease
- Electrophysiology study and interventional electrophysiology for arrhythmia treatment
- Fetal echocardiography for prenatal screening/diagnosis of congenital heart disease; detection and treatment planning for fetal arrhythmias
- Outpatient follow-up, monitoring, and long-term management for children with cardiovascular diseases
Additional services:
- High-quality services and expert cardiology consultations
- Early surgery on request and service-based surgical options
- On-demand voluntary inpatient rooms/services
- High-quality medical equipment and facilities
2) Common, advanced, and high-technology techniques
Cardiovascular diagnostics
Hundreds of pediatric cardiology visits are conducted daily by leading experts and experienced pediatric cardiologists. Modern echocardiography systems, computerized ECG, high-resolution CT, and cardiac MRI support accurate diagnosis.
Cardiac surgery
Modern and well-equipped operating rooms support thousands of successful open-heart surgeries and hundreds of closed-heart surgeries each year—from simple defects to the most complex congenital heart diseases, including highly advanced procedures such as arterial switch for transposition of the great arteries, Ross–Konno, Norwood, Nikaidoh, Double Switch, Fontan, Unifocalization, etc.
The Center also performs minimally invasive right thoracotomy approaches for congenital heart repair, avoiding midline sternotomy scars and improving cosmetic outcomes.
With a very high success rate and low mortality/complication rates, the Center is proud to provide congenital cardiac surgery quality comparable to leading centers in Southeast Asia and approaching that of developed countries.
Advanced cardiac critical care
The Surgical Cardiac Intensive Care Unit is well-equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and experienced specialists, routinely providing both basic and advanced postoperative cardiac intensive care, including advanced techniques such as dialysis, ECMO, and nitric oxide (NO) therapy.
Interventional cardiology
Includes diagnostic catheterization for complex congenital heart disease and interventional procedures such as device closure of VSD/ASD/PDA, emergency atrial septostomy, pulmonary valvuloplasty, pulmonary valve opening, PDA stenting, coarctation balloon angioplasty, etc., helping treat hundreds of children each year.
Arrhythmia management
With computerized ECG, Holter monitoring, and exercise ECG, diagnosis and follow-up are accurate and convenient. Electrophysiology study and radiofrequency ablation are performed for hundreds of children with severe, persistent, recurrent arrhythmias refractory to medication—including low-weight children—offering renewed life chances for children with life-threatening rhythm disorders.
Fetal echocardiography (prenatal diagnosis)
Helps detect congenital heart defects and fetal arrhythmias early, enabling early planning for treatment and management during pregnancy.
VI. FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT
To optimize diagnosis and treatment outcomes, the Heart Center is equipped with advanced technology, including Affiniti 70C 4D echocardiography systems, cardiac catheterization/intervention systems, heart–lung machines, Maquet ECMO, PRISMAFLEX dialysis systems, MRI, 256-slice CT, and modern laboratory systems.
VII. EXPERT TEAM
The Heart Center is trusted nationwide largely due to its expert workforce, comprising leading pediatric cardiology specialists in Viet Nam (Associate Professors, PhDs, MSc/MDs), trained both domestically and internationally. With the mission “For a healthy heart for Vietnamese children,” all staff continually pursue training and self-training to update new methods and techniques for clinical practice.
The Center also maintains regular collaboration with international cardiac centers and universities (Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Italy, India, Malaysia, etc.) for training, case consultation, and technology transfer, to enhance quality and treatment effectiveness.
VIII. TRAINING AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
As a national tertiary referral center for pediatric cardiology, the Heart Center strongly emphasizes training and technology transfer for satellite and provincial hospitals, including successful transfer of open-heart surgery programs to Thanh Hoa Children’s Hospital, Hai Phong Children’s Hospital, Bac Giang Children’s Hospital, Quang Ninh Children’s Hospital…and others.
Many generations of trainees have graduated from courses in echocardiography, ECG, cardiovascular surgery, and postoperative cardiac intensive care for satellite hospitals.
The Center also participates in postgraduate training (residency, master’s, PhD programs) with Vietnamese medical universities. Scientific research is actively promoted, with multiple studies successfully defended and published in reputable domestic and international journals, and participation in multicenter research and international databases to help standardize the Center’s data systems.
IX. ACHIEVEMENTS
Key achievements include:
- Successful surgery for over 10,000 congenital heart disease cases, including many complex conditions such as transposition of the great arteries (over 500 cases), Tetralogy of Fallot, double outlet right ventricle, pulmonary venous anomalies, and single-ventricle congenital heart disease. Notably, the Center has successfully performed open-heart surgery for very low-weight infants (<1.5 kg) with transposition of the great arteries, and Tetralogy of Fallot repair for a 1-day-old newborn.
- Surgical mortality rate in congenital heart surgery is below 3%, comparable to the region and approaching global standards.
- Successful surgery for over 100 congenital tracheal stenosis cases.
- Successful cardiac interventions and electrophysiology interventions for over 10,000 cases.
- High patient satisfaction with the quality of examinations and services.
- Multiple scientific works accepted and presented at national and international cardiology conferences, with publications in reputable Vietnamese and international journals.
