The AICD is a special device that recognizes and treats abnormally fast heart rates. It delivers a high-energy electric shock to restore the normal heart rhythm. The AICD system usually consists of an implanted impulse generator and one or more leads.

Short form: AICD  

Replacement of the valve between the left ventricle and the aorta, the main artery of the body.

Short form: AKE 

The ASD is a hole in the wall dividing the two atria (“hole in the heart”).

Short form: ASD 

Abbreviation for Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin.

The DSO (Deutsche Stiftung für Organtransplantation) is a non-profit foundation under German civil law, with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. It is designated by German transplantation law as the organization coordinating organ transplantation in Germany. The DSO is divided into seven regions and employs more than 200 people. It is one of the largest national organ transplant organizations worldwide.

Short form: DSO

Thanks to medical progress, over 90 percent of patients with congenital heart defects live to become adults. These GUCH patients require highly specialized, lifelong medical care. In the ideal case this is provided by GUCH centers. Our Department of Pediatric Cardiology has such a GUCH center.

Short form: EMAH 

The systematic study of gender differences in medicine and their introduction into medical training.

A disease in which antibodies to a complex of heparin and a blood coagulation factor are formed.

Short form: HIT 

In HLHS one or more structures of the left side of the heart are too small. The result is that the ventricle cannot supply the body’s circulation or can do so only partially.

Abkürzung: HLHS

The HLM is a medical device that can replace the pumping function of the heart and the lung function for a limited time. The heart lung machine is used most frequently in heart surgery.

Abkürzung: HLM

See: Primary pulmonary hypertension.

The ICD is a medical device that is implanted in the body and regulates the heart rhythm.

Short form: ICD

The IOP (Interessengemeinschaft Organtransplantierter Patienten) is a German self-help group for organ transplant patients that was established for mutual support.

Short form: IOP

The VSD is a defect of the dividing wall between the right and left ventricle.

Short form: VSD 

Kooperation für Transparenz und Qualität im Gesundheitswesen (KTQ, Cooperation for Transparency and Quality in Health Care) is a recognized certification procedure for hospitals. External assessors determine the quality standard of an institution. Award of the certification confirms the high standards of the DHZB.

Short form: KTQ

Support of the body’s circulation by an implantable mechanical ventricular assist device.

Short form: MCS 

MRI uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce images of the internal organs and tissues for diagnostic purposes.

Short form: MRI

Connection between the left pulmonary artery and the descending aorta present in the embryo. It normally closes naturally in the first weeks of life, but may persist.

Short form: PDA 

A persisting opening in the septal wall that divides the right and left atrium.

Short form: PFO 

High pulmonary artery pressure without a clear cause is known as primary pulmonary hypertension or, following the most recent nomenclature, idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH).

Short form: PPH

There is a close connection between physical and mental health. A serious physical illness is an exceptional situation for the patient and can affect his or her psychological well-being.
Our Psychosomatic Medicine team supports our patients before, during and after their treatment to help them deal psychologically with their illness and to assist them in the healing process.

Small blood vessel prostheses usually made of metal (stainless steel, nitinol, tantal).

The truncus arteriosus is a congenital heart defect in which only one blood vessel arises from the heart chambers. Usually this common vessel (truncus) overrides a ventricular septal wall defect.

Short form: TAC 

Safe means of treating elderly patients and patients with severe concomitant diseases. The aortic valve replacement is introduced into the heart via a groin artery or arm artery or via the heart apex. Procedures range from percutaneous valve implantation under local anesthetic to complex combined operations.

Short form: TAVI 

The principle of tissue engineering is to use cells from the patient’s own body to produce vital, functional replacement tissue, which has the potential to become integrated into surrounding tissue and to grow with the patient.

Short form: TE

Ultrasound examination of the heart with a flexible probe that is introduced into the gullet.

Short form: TEE 

Procedure to mold or shape the valve to treat a mitral valve stenosis.

Short form: PTV 

See: Mechanical circulatory support.

Short form: VAD