Benderson Family Heart Center

The specialists at Boston Children’s Benderson Family Heart Center have deep expertise in a wide range of complex and common heart conditions. A second opinion from our team can help confirm your child’s diagnosis and recommended treatment, help you understand treatment options, and give you peace of mind that your child is receiving the best care.

Guided by experience and collaboration — and aided by technology such as 3D modeling of the heart — our team of experts never hesitates to take on the simplest to the most complex cases. Our Heart Center has nearly 30 subspeciality programs that care for all types of congenital heart disease.

• A second opinion directed to the Heart Center is free.
• We make every effort to respond to second opinion requests within 48 business hours.
• Your family will have a voice in the second opinion process and time to make decisions.

You can request a second opinion through our online HeartOpinion portal. After creating an account, you’ll enter the patient’s name, date of birth, address, and other information. You’ll also enter the current diagnosis and a brief medical history.

After you submit your second opinion request, our team will ask you or your cardiologist for: 

• An echocardiogram
• A CT scan
• A cardiac MRI
• Results of a previous cardiac catheterization or cardiac surgery
• All relevant notes written by your cardiologist
• Other relevant testing

Once we have all necessary medical records and images, a team of clinicians that specializes in the heart condition will meet to review the information and may even request further testing, which could possibly be done by your local cardiologist. (If your child has not been seen by a cardiologist outside of Boston Children’s, we may request that one of our cardiologists examine them before the team makes a diagnosis.)

• You will receive a letter from our specialists, confirming the initial diagnosis or outlining our team’s own diagnosis. The letter will also review possible next steps.
• If you’re interested, you can speak directly to a cardiac surgeon in a one-on-one consultation if surgery is recommended. The surgeon will discuss your child’s case, how their condition could be treated, and answer any questions.
• If you decide to receive treatment at Boston Children’s, our Heart Center team will help you throughout the entire process of care. Our case coordinators can also offer helpful information to plan your stay in Boston, including recommendations for housing in the area if you’re traveling from afar.

Even if your child is already inpatient at another hospital, you can still reach out for a second opinion. Your request will be handled by a team of Boston Children’s experts that is dedicated to reviewing these cases.

After you submit a request, you will need to fill out an intake form, send a copy of your child’s health insurance, and provide clinical reports from that hospital. You will also need to forward moving video images of the most recent tests (for example, the video images of an echocardiogram). A member of our team will then speak with the lead doctor at the hospital, before the entire team reviews your child’s case and your health insurance. We will send a letter outlining our recommendations to you and your local care team.

If you have questions about possible treatment options for your child, need help completing the second opinion form, or want to schedule an appointment, please contact our team:

Department of Cardiac Surgery

Phone: 617-355-7932
Email: CVSurgeryCoordinators-dl@cardio.chboston.org

Department of Cardiology

Phone: 617-355-2079 
Email: heart@childrens.harvard.edu

Once you start receiving care at Boston Children’s, you can reach the Heart Center through the MyChildren’s Patient Portal. There, you can submit questions to your clinical team, access test results, and manage appointments.

HeartOpinion is now available through Apple App Store and Google Play.