Adult congenital heart disease sub-specialties

Our services

• Adult congenital cardiac rhythm management 

  Team:

  • Dr Eric Rosenthal - consultant children's / adult congenital heart disease cardiologist
  • Dr Mark O’Neil - consultant cardiologist / electrophysiologist
  • Dr Matthew Wright - consultant cardiologist / electrophysiologist 

  Heart rhythm problems are common in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) patients.

  We provide a highly specialised service for cardiac rhythm management in ACHD patients. This includes electrophysiological studies, simple and complex ablation procedures, complex device therapy and device management.

  3D mapping techniques and advanced imaging modalities are routinely used to support complex procedures.

• Adult congenital catheter intervention

  Team:

  • Professor Shakeel Qureshi - consultant children's / adult congenital heart disease cardiologist
  • Dr Eric Rosenthal - consultant children's / adult congenital heart disease cardiologist
  • Dr Gareth Morgan - consultant children's / adult congenital heart disease cardiologist
  • Dr Brian Clapp - consultant cardiologist

  Our team provides a comprehensive intervention service based at St Thomas’ and the Evelina Children’s Hospital. 

  Professor Qureshi and Dr Rosenthal each have a monthly interventional clinic. Dr Gareth Morgan has a twice monthly clinic. Dr Clapp sees patients for consideration of PFO and ASD closure in his weekly clinics at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals. Patients being considered for catheter intervention are discussed at our weekly team meetings.

• Adult congenital cardiac surgery 

  Team:

  • Professor David Anderson - consultant cardiothoracic surgeon
  • Mr Conal Austin - consultant cardiothoracic surgeon
  • Mr Caner Salih - consultant cardiothoracic surgeon

  Adult patients with congenital heart disease who have had surgical correction in childhood, may require re-operations in later life. A number of patients with unrepaired congenital heart disease or first diagnosed in adulthood may also need surgical repair. Our experienced surgeons operate on babies, children and adults with congenital heart disease. They also operate on adults with acquired heart disease. Patients who may require surgery are discussed in our weekly team meeting.

  Professor Anderson, Mr Austin and Mr Salih have weekly outpatient clinics.

  The wider team of anaesthetists, ACHD consultants, intensivists, physiologists and nurses are also involved in the care of patients around the time of surgery.

  For enquiries, contact Alison Lawrence: alison.lawrence@gstt.nhs.uk or tel 020 7188 1071.

• Cardiac obstetric service 

  Team:

  • Dr Catherine Head - consultant cardiologist
  • Dr Natali Chung - consultant cardiologist
  • Dr Kate Langford - consultant obstetrician
  • Professor Catherine Nelson-Piercy - consultant obstetric physician
  • Mrs Heather West - clinical nurse specialist
  • Thames midwifery team 

  We care for women with congenital and acquired cardiac disease (both pre-existing and presenting for the first time in pregnancy).

  We hold a joint cardiac obstetric clinic every Monday morning where we see women for pre-pregnancy counselling, antenatal and postnatal care. We routinely share care with colleagues from referring hospitals.

  For enquiries, contact Alice Gem: alice.gem@gstt.nhs.uk or tel 020 7188 7905.

• Pulmonary hypertension clinics 

  Team:

  • Dr Natali Chung - consultant cardiologist
  • Dr Catherine Head - consultant cardiologist
  • Dr Gerry Coghlan (Royal Free Hospital) - consultant cadiologist
  • Juliet Jaikumar - clinical nurse specialist 

  As well as investigating and monitoring ACHD patients with pulmonary hypertension, we also hold regular combined pulmonary hypertension clinics with the national pulmonary hypertension service from the Royal Free Hospital.

  Currently, only national pulmonary hypertension centres are able to provide medical treatments for pulmonary hypertension. As our patients are reviewed jointly by Dr Gerry Coghlan, consultant cardiologist from the Royal Free Hospital, and one of our ACHD consultants, we are able to start specific treatments for pulmonary hypertension, and patients can be monitored within an environment and team that is familiar to them.

• Cardiac genetics and connective tissue disorder clinic

  Team:

  • Dr Leema Robert - consultant clinical geneticist
  • Dr Christoph Kiesewetter - consultant cardiologist
  • Dr Natali Chung - consultant cardiologist
  • Dr Sujeev Mathur - consultant children's cardiologist
  • Sally Watts - lead genetic counsellor

  We offer a weekly screening clinic for people who have suspected inherited arteriopathies or inherited structural heart disease. This includes screening and assessment for: Marfan syndrome, Loeys Dietz syndrome, young onset aortopathies, FAAD / TAAD.

  We sometimes see patients who have confirmed inherited aortopathies or inherited structural heart disease at this clinic for follow-up.

  This weekly clinic takes place in cardiac outpatients at St Thomas’. Families can be seen together if required.

  For enquiries, contact Swaro Sigh and Andrew Lennox, tel 020 7188 1364.

• Sedation and special care dentistry

  Good dental hygiene and regular dental visits are important in preventing infective endocarditis (infection on the lining of the heart or heart valves).

  We can refer our ACHD patients to our special care dentistry service, based at Guy's, if they have conditions that cannot be treated by their regular or community dentist, such as:

  • complex or severe medical problems
  • psychological problems 
  • severe learning disabilities
  • confirmed severe allergy to more than one local anaesthetic agent, dental materials or latex
  • severe dental phobias requiring treatment under sedation.

  Long-term or advanced restorative care is geenerally not provided at this clinic, unless long-term maintenance by the patient's regular dentist is not possible.

  Referrals are made by the ACHD consultants or by the patient's GP to: New Patient Referral Unit, Floor 25, Tower wing, Guy's Hospital, and marked for the attention of 'Sedation and special care dentistry'.