The Advanced Cardiac Therapies for Heart Failure Patients (ACT-HF) program is part of the world-leading Cardiac Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Our heart failure team is one of the most experienced in the country. We are dedicated to providing your child with the best possible pediatric heart failure treatment and care.

Our program was recently named one of CHOP's Frontier Programs. Frontier Programs are trailblazing projects that we believe will make important new discoveries, deliver new therapies and redefine the future of pediatric medicine.

We offer:

Innovative care

Our research team is working to develop new ways to use devices that help the heart function better (mechanical circulatory support), such as ventricular assist devices (VAD). These devices help stabilize children with heart failure who are waiting for a heart transplant. In some cases, a VAD can allow a child's heart to recover enough that a transplant isn't necessary. Our goal is to continue to discover new ways of treating children with heart failure, as well as medicine that may one day be able to prevent heart failure altogether.

A dedicated place for dedicated care

CHOP's Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) is one of the largest intensive care units for children in the country, with expertise in treating children with complex congenital heart disease. Our CICU includes a dedicated Heart Failure Intensive Care Unit, one of only two in the country. This provides a dedicated place — with a dedicated team of surgical, medical, rehabilitation and ICU experts — where your child can access all the services they need in one place.

Advanced rehabilitation

CHOP’s Cardiovascular Exercise Physiology Laboratory is the largest of its kind in the country, which allows us to create state-of-the-art exercise programs. This type of rehabilitation, in addition to physical and occupational therapy, helps make sure children with VADs are as healthy as possible for heart transplants.