Advanced Care for Patients with End-stage Lung Failure

We treat patients from infants to young adults who have end-stage acute lung failure, chronic lung failure, or combined heart-lung failure. Our advanced methods of care can provide new hope for kids who seemingly have no other options.

Here we can determine whether patients can either recover from lung failure if critically ill, or if they need to be bridged to lung transplantation. Our team assesses patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

This program is the first in the country to focus on a comprehensive strategy for end-stage lung failure of all forms in children of all ages.

What Sets Us Apart

• Expertise in caring for the sickest of patients. We have unique experience caring for patients who are critically ill, including both those who have qualified for a transplant, as well as those who have not. We regularly work with children who need respiratory support such as mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal life support (ECMO). Our specialists develop new therapies based on science to offer additional care alternatives.
• Internationally recognized leaders. This program is led by world-renowned experts from our Heart Institute and the medical center’s Critical Care and Pulmonary Divisions. These leaders include David L.S. Morales, MD, David Cooper, MD, MPH, Don Hayes, Jr., MD, MS, MEd, and Russel Hirsch, MD.
• Dedicated pulmonary pathologist. Our dedicated pulmonary pathologist specializes in diagnosing rare pulmonary illnesses. This is sometimes the key that helps unlock a new, more effective clinical strategy for our patients.
• Transport to Cincinnati available. Our highly skilled Transport Team is able to transport severely ill patients, even those on ECMO, to Cincinnati Children’s if determined that is necessary.
• Care transfers back to referring hospital. Our goal is to partner with the institution where the patient is located to help in care at the referring institution, or to transfer to us if necessary and return the patient to them.

Multidisciplinary Approach Offers Best Possible Outcomes

Multidisciplinary care brings together specialists from several areas of the hospital, each with their own unique perspective. This allows us to consider all aspects of care and offer treatment plans tailored to each patient.

We take advantage of every resource available at Cincinnati Children’s when we care for your child.

Some of the many world-class teams we work with include the following:

• Critical Care, including the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
• Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
• Heart Institute, including Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU)
• Pulmonary Medicine
• Pediatric Lung Transplant Program
• Rare Lung Diseases Program
• Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) Program
• Pediatric Ventricular Assist Device Program
• Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD) Center
• Cystic Fibrosis Center
• Pulmonary Disease Pathology
• Transport Team