The INTENSIVE CARE AND CONGENITAL DEFECTS CLINIC for newborns and infants has been a leading center specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of newborns with congenital defects for many years. We help children who are unable to breathe independently and require support, as well as babies born significantly before their due date.
In our clinic, at the bedside, or rather at the incubator, of a sick newborn, we meet with various specialists, including cardiology and cardiac surgery, surgery, urology, neurology and neurosurgery, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, and rehabilitation, providing our patients with comprehensive treatment.
The Clinic employs 21 physicians, including one professor and four with a doctorate in medical sciences, 11 specialists, and 9 residents. The team also includes a speech therapist, a certified lactation consultant, and two physiotherapists. We are a multidisciplinary team, with physicians specializing in pediatrics, neonatology, anesthesiology and intensive care, pediatric neurology, and pediatric metabolic diseases. We utilize state-of-the-art medical equipment and technology-based monitoring systems to treat our patients. We are the only neonatology department in Poland to use electrical impedance tomography to monitor lung function.
We are the center that hospitalizes the largest number of patients with congenital heart defects in Poland.
Our clinic also accommodates newborns with respiratory failure, regardless of the cause, requiring mechanical support. We use inhaled nitric oxide to treat newborns with pulmonary hypertension. For children with the most severe form of respiratory failure that does not respond to conventional treatment, we offer extracorporeal membrane ventilation (ECMO). We are the first and only neonatal intensive care unit in Poland offering extracorporeal membrane ventilation, also known as "artificial heart-lung" (ECMO). During this procedure, we can administer therapeutic hypothermia to newborns at risk of brain damage due to severe hypoxia. In the treatment of respiratory failure, we utilize modern respiratory support methods, from non-invasive ventilation, through various support modes compatible with even the most immature newborns (NAVA), to high-frequency invasive ventilation (HFO) and non-invasive ventilation (HFNC).
To ensure our patients' comfort, we monitor pain (NIPE), tissue oxygenation (NIRS), and lung function using electrical impedance tomography (EIT).
Most diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, including surgical procedures in some cases, are performed "at the bedside," or rather, in an incubator, to ensure the greatest possible comfort for our young patients.
We also remember the parents/guardians of our patients. In every situation, even the most difficult, we strive to include them in the treatment and care of their sick child.
Furthermore, we coordinate the transport of sick newborns from lower-reference centers to higher-reference centers.
