Arkansas Children's Hospital Heart Center Featured on American Airlines’ Sky Radio;

Dr. Morrow Interview to be Heard on More than 30,000 Flights Worldwide

If you’re flying American Airlines during the month of June, you may have a chance to hear a “heart to heart” discussion on the Heart Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. A news segment highlighting innovations in pediatric cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery will air on the Sky Radio Network, available to American Airlines passengers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on 30,000 audio-equipped flights worldwide and reaching up to 4.2 million passengers.

W. Robert Morrow, M.D., chief of Pediatric Cardiology at Arkansas Children's Hospital and professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine is featured on Forbes InFlight Radio Channel’s “21st Century Healthcare Forum,” a health news and information talk program, presented by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Morrow discusses, with host Dennis Michael, recent advances in pediatric cardiology, electrophysiology and surgery, as well as treatment options for infants and children born with heart defects. During the program, Morrow shares some of the success stories from Arkansas Children's Hospital, which is among the 10 largest pediatric hospitals in the United States.

“The heart team at Arkansas Children's Hospital has achieved a hospital survival rate for heart surgeries in children of greater than 99 percent,” says Morrow. “Few centers in the world have survival rates that high.” In addition, Morrow also touts the work of a colleague, Volkan Tuzcu, M.D., director of Electrophysiology and Pacing at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine, the only pediatric electrophysiologist in Arkansas, who recently developed a technique for performing heart catheterization procedures on children without the need for X-ray or fluoroscopy. Exposure to X-ray poses a threat to anyone, especially children, who are particularly susceptible and may experience negative health effects such as cancer or having children with birth defects, later in life. It was Tuzcu’s innovation that attracted the producers of Sky Radio Network.

“We found it interesting that such an innovative pediatric surgical technique, one that will fundamentally change the way physicians approach pediatric heart surgery, came from a small state with such a high-caliber organization like Arkansas Children's Hospital,” says Mitch Sodikoff, senior producer for Sky Radio Network. “We reached out to ACH to be on the program because we felt our audience needed to know more about these types of innovations and the organizations behind them.”

In addition to electrophysiology, Morrow discusses recently-developed technology used at Arkansas Children's Hospital that was designed to more fully support young heart patients who are waiting on a heart transplant.

For more information on the Heart Center at Arkansas Children's Hospital, visit www.kidsandhearts.org.

Arkansas Children's Hospital is the only pediatric medical center in Arkansas and one of the largest in the United States serving children from birth to age 21. The campus spans 24 city blocks and houses 290 beds, a staff of approximately 500 physicians, 80 residents in pediatrics and pediatric specialties and more than 3,600 employees. The private, nonprofit healthcare facility boasts an internationally renowned reputation for medical breakthroughs and intensive treatments, unique surgical procedures and forward-thinking medical research - all dedicated to fulfilling our mission of enhancing, sustaining and restoring children's health and development.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital is the comprehensive clinical, research and teaching affiliate of the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. UAMS pediatric faculty physicians and surgeons are on staff at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. For more information, visit www.archildrens.org

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,320 students and 690 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 9,300 employees, including nearly 1,000 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the VA Medical Center. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact inArkansas of $4.4 billion a year. For more information, visit uams.edu.

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