Emory University find out the PCT response to heart surgery in children by taking blood before surgery and each day for four days after surgery. These blood draws will help us figure out the typical PCT response, the normal increase in PCT after heart surgery, and when the PCT level returns to baseline.

Second, they hope to determine the accuracy of PCT as a marker of infection.

The hypothesis is that Procalcitonin is superior to other currently used markers of infection and will prove to be a clinically useful tool for evaluation of infection in children following cardiac surgery.

The Children's Hospital Boston, Medtronic and the Guidant Corporation are conducting a randomized, prospective clinical trial comparing 2 different models of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) leads in children and patients with congenital heart disease. ICD lead survival in this patient group is particularly suboptimal, and lead extraction is technically difficult and carries a substantial morbidity risk. Recently, improved ICD lead designs have been released and are currently being utilized in patients. The main aim of the study is to determine if either type of lead performs better in terms of implantation electrical characteristics, long-term survival without breaking, and ease of extractability

A new treatment called Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) is associated with biventricular pacing where two chambers of the heart are stimulated simultaneously. Tissue Doppler Imaging, Tissue Synchronization Imaging and 3 dimensional echocardiography are new forms of technology that look at the heart while it works. They are similar to a moving x-ray that can watch the heart muscles moving. The movement can be measured. In a trial sponsored by Emory University, doctors will check for changes that happen over time. This has not been studied in children before because this kind of is new to this group of patients. This technology is noninvasive which means it can be done from the outside of the body and is painless