Why Choose Us for CDH Care

Reviewed on 09/17/2025

A diagnosis of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) can be overwhelming. At the Richard D. Wood Jr. Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment (CFDT), we have the experience, expertise and resources to give your baby the best possible start.

When it comes to your child, attention to the tiniest details matters, from the moment of prenatal diagnosis through delivery, surgery and follow-up care.

We care for more CDH patients than any other hospital in the world and are recognized as one of the very best hospitals for CDH surgery. This experience leads to better planning, decisions and outcomes.

The decision to choose CHOP was a no-brainer. The expertise of the medical team and the quality of the facilities were both so much better than what was available near home.

Elizabeth, mom of CDH patient Milana

What sets us apart

Unmatched experience: We’ve evaluated more than 2,074 CDH cases and delivered over 646 babies with CDH in our Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit (SDU), more than any program worldwide. We care for babies with all types of CDH – from the most complex cases to those that are less severe.
Most advanced imaging: Our fetal radiologists and sonographers are global leaders in prenatal imaging, providing the clearest possible diagnosis to guide care.
Innovative fetal therapies: For the most severe CDH cases, we offer fetoscopic endoluminal tracheal occlusion (FETO), a groundbreaking fetal surgery designed to help lungs grow before birth. We are one of the only hospitals in the world to offer FETO.
Expert delivery: Our Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit (SDU) is the first birth facility in a freestanding children’s hospital, designed just for pregnancies affected by birth defects. More than 50 patients with CDH are born in the Special Delivery Unit every year, the most of any program. After birth, babies are immediately cared for by a team of expert neonatologists and nurses and are then admitted to our top-ranked Level IV Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit (N/IICU).
World-leading CDH surgery team: Our pediatric surgeons are the best in the world for complicated surgeries with babies, including all CDH repair techniques. When babies are strong enough, CDH repair is performed right at their bedside by the first dedicated Neonatal Surgical Team in the world, avoiding the risk of transport and streamlining care. We’ve performed postnatal CDH surgical repair on more than 819 patients.
Excellence in ECMO: CHOP is a designated Center of Excellence in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). ECMO is a form of heart-lung bypass. If a baby must have ECMO, it is extremely important that they are cared for by an experienced ECMO team. CHOP’s ECMO Center has had more than 2,000 ECMO cases since opening in 1990, more than 312 being babies with severe CDH.
Psychosocial services: A clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, social workers and child life specialists provide emotional support, individualized and couple's counseling, and supportive therapy for your family every step of the way.
Lifelong support: Our Pulmonary Hypoplasia Program (PHP) offers long-term monitoring and coordinated care through childhood and adolescence for children with CDH. (Pulmonary hypoplasia means underdeveloped lungs.)

Our large multidisciplinary team — including maternal-fetal medicine specialists, neonatologists, fetal surgeons, advanced practice nurses, fetal therapy nurse coordinators, prenatal genetic counselors, fetal imaging specialists, labor and delivery nurses, anesthesiologists, fetal cardiologists, psychosocial specialists and more — has a level of ongoing collaboration that is unmatched.

We have pioneered advances that have pushed CDH care to new frontiers and improved the life course for children.

It takes experience to achieve excellence. We’ve got more than 30 years of it, and we’re ready to help your family. From your first phone call through every stage of your child’s care, we’re here with answers and hope.

To help you make decisions about your child's care, we encourage you to read these frequently asked questions about CDH, where we answer some of the most common questions families ask.

You can also watch this video following one family's journey with a prenatal CDH diagnosis through treatment at our center to learn more about what to expect and the care you can expect to receive here at CHOP.

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: A World Leader in Research and Care
Holly L. Hedrick, MD: Imagine finding out when you're pregnant that your child will be born with a life-threatening condition. A birth defect so severe that their abdominal organs move into their chest, threatening growth of the lungs. When they're born, they will struggle to breathe. Over the past three decades, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has established the largest program in the world to treat that condition, known as congenital diaphragmatic hernia or CDH.

We see many patients with CDH and what we learn allows us to make breakthroughs. These children may require expert follow-up care for years to manage pulmonary hypoplasia, also known as small lungs, and other health issues. Our Pulmonary Hypoplasia Program, created in 2004, follows children with CDH into adolescence.

More than 1000 patients from around the world are enrolled. We see it as our responsibility to monitor our patients and optimize their care, and we learn a great deal from following their life course. Our dedicated CDH team has spent nearly three decades translating our findings into advances that have pushed care to new frontiers.

Advances like pioneering fetal imaging that helps us predict CDH severity, and monitor the condition, prenatally. Advances like building the world's first special delivery unit in a free-standing children's hospital, which gives babies immediate access to an expert neonatal team. Advances like developing highly technical and life-saving interventions for babies who will struggle to breathe during and afterbirth.

Advances like becoming experts in ECMO, a life-saving form of heart-lung bypass for infants with severe cardio-respiratory failure. And finally, and most importantly, creating a fetal psychosocial team that surrounds families with support services throughout their journey with us. While great strides have been made, there is still so much more work to be done. Inspired by our patients and their families, who we care so much about, and supported by generous donors, we have built the most robust CDH research program in the world. Our researchers continue to study the molecular and genetic factors that cause CDH, and we are on the cusp of revolutionary advances, from a more effective and safer form of ECMO, to a new way of ventilating babies that is less harmful to their lungs.

Amazing things are on the horizon and as we continue to care for babies with CDH, we will continue to learn and continue to improve the future for children and families.

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