J. Philip Saul, M.D., is the director of Pediatric Cardiology as well as the Physician-in-Chief of the MUSC Children’s Hospital. He co-directs this program with adult cardiologist David Gregg IV, M.D., who trained in non-invasive imaging and adult congenital heart disease at the University of California-San Francisco after completing medical training at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and Duke University. This program was created in response to growing concern among cardiologists across the country that many adults with congenital heart disease may not realize that they need continuous specialty care. The numbers of these patients are increasing with advances in care. Today, about half of congenital heart disease patients are over 18 years old. Before the 1960s, most children with congenital heart problems died. About 500 children are born with heart disease each year in South Carolina. That’s about one percent of the population. About half of them, some 250 children per year, have significant issues. Based on those figures, it is estimated that between 5,000 and 8,000 adults with congenital heart disease in South Carolina need ongoing care. Adult congenital heart patients can be divided into three main groups: |  | J. Phillip Saul, M.D. |  | David Gregg IV, M.D. |
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Treating these different types of patients at different stages of heart disease takes a team approach. The Adult Congenital Heart Program is far greater than two cardiologists. Staff is be available for conducting echocardiograms, MRIs and CT scans. Other support comes from adult and pediatric interventionalists, electrophysiologists, a nurse practitioner and congenital cardiac surgeons. The Adult Congenital Heart Program holds clinics on the fourth Tuesday each month at MUSC. |
Some have simple heart defects that were almost completely repaired but still linger as potential problems later in life.
