Adult Congenital Heart Disease
Due to medical advances, about 90% of children with congenital heart disease now reach adulthood, and it is known that there are currently over 500,000 adult patients with congenital heart disease in Japan.
While congenital heart disease is mainly treated by pediatric cardiologists during childhood, different issues arise when patients become adults. Therefore, it becomes necessary to transition care to facilities with medical teams centered around adult congenital heart disease specialists who specialize in treating adult congenital heart disease.
On the other hand, as of 2022, there are fewer than 200 adult congenital heart disease specialists in Japan, and facilities capable of providing treatment are limited. Our hospital’s adult congenital heart disease department began in 2011. At that time, there were only a handful of such departments in Japan. Since then, our facility has employed multiple adult congenital heart disease specialists, providing specialized imaging diagnostics, internal medicine drug treatments, and catheter treatments, as well as collaborating with obstetricians to manage labor and postpartum care for pregnant women with heart disease.
Moreover, adult congenital heart disease patients often have complications other than heart disease, but our facility has many specialists and healthcare professionals from other departments, allowing us to address non-cardiac diseases as part of our medical team.
We accept referrals from many adult congenital heart disease patients nationwide, including for second opinions, and are one of the few facilities in Japan capable of providing comprehensive and continuous care for adult congenital heart disease. Although we are not a large department, we aim to provide ‘comfortable medical care that takes sufficient time for patient consultation, is attentive, and flexible,’ which is the motto of our center’s special advisor, Dr. Koichiro Niwa. We strive to warmly support all adult congenital heart disease patients. We aim to be a hospital where nurses, co-medical staff, and administrative staff provide excellent support, particularly in addressing issues related to education, employment, and mental health concerns for younger patients.
We tend to have relatively short waiting times, and many of our outpatients are full-time workers who go to work after their appointments. Additionally, private room hospitalization that allows family accompaniment is available.
