The Monasterio Foundation and, specifically, the Ospedale del Cuore in Massa and the Meyer Paediatric Hospital, pool their high-level expertise, offering specific and shared care pathways, for the comprehensive care of infants, children and adolescents, thanks to an integrated team of professionals.
The product of this union, the Intra-Hospital Centre for Paediatric Cardiac Surgery and Cardiology, supported by a regional agreement and protocols and guidelines that profile and direct patients to the appropriate pathway, operates within the framework of the regional paediatric network, and thus in connection with the networks belonging to it – neonatal network, emergency network, clinical network for high-risk pregnancies – to guarantee the comprehensive care of patients with cardiological problems.
The centre is responsible, precisely through the Regional Paediatric Network, for the dissemination and application of shared diagnostic-therapeutic care pathways throughout the regional territory.
In this context, it is designed to synergistically develop four key dimensions: clinical, research, innovation and training.
Teleconsultation and Telemedicine will be increasingly strengthened, as tools able to support the timeliness, sustainability, safety and quality of care.
CLINICAL
Emergency or elective admissions
The centre, characterised by team collaboration, assesses and refers the patient in a timely manner to the most appropriate treatment setting:
- Ospedale del Cuore, for patients who urgently require cardiac and/or interventional treatment – for example, infants with duct-dependent congenital heart disease;
- Meyer Children’s Hospital, for patients who require a multidisciplinary diagnostic, clinical and therapeutic approach, and for whom cardiac/interventional treatment is not necessary.
The Centre will also develop specific pathways for patients with special care needs, such as those with suspected myocarditis or acute heart failure with haemodynamic instability, which represent one of the emerging critical issues, also through the activation of the ECMO mobile team of the Ospedale del Cuore.
Diagnostic and follow-up outpatient pathways
The connection between the professionals of the two hospitals becomes even more pronounced and evident in the outpatient pathways, thanks to the interchangeability of the same between the two sites.
The non-invasive diagnosis and follow-up of congenital heart disease from foetal age onwards is carried out at both sites, also relying on advanced second-level imaging techniques such as Cardio MRI and Cardio Angio CT.
At the “Ospedale del Cuore”, diagnosis and follow-up of non-cardiological diseases can also be carried out in paediatric patients, through dedicated outpatient activities, thanks to the collaboration of specialists from the Meyer Hospital.
The joint clinics meet the needs of particular types of patients:
- at the “Ospedale del Cuore”, with the collaboration of the cardiologists of the Meyer Hospital, for patients monitored jointly by the Centre or for selected populations.
The Centre is responsible for further and specific operational guidelines for the management of:
Foetal pathway and birth
Adult congenital heart disease pathways
Arrhythmology pathway
RESEARCH AND TRAINING
On this front, the Centre promotes:
- synergistic research and clinical trial activities, oriented towards the needs of young patients, to improve appropriateness and safety of care, with the possibility of joint participation in regional, national and international research projects.
- joint initiatives with Training Courses and University Master’s Courses dedicated to Paediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Diseases from foetus to adult.