Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society

Dr. Dolly D. Hansen, "the Mother of Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia", devoted her entire career to the life of children with congenital heart disease (CHD). Dr. Hansen graduated from Copenhagen University Medical School in 1961, and later completed a fellowship in pediatric anesthesia at Boston Children's Hospital in 1971. By default, Dr. Hansen became the only pediatric cardiac anesthesia attending at BCH in 1973, and for the next 30 years Dr. Hansen worked in the pediatric cardiac anesthesia division at BCH. In addition to being one of the first women in the field Dr. Hansen has been a CHD anesthesia pioneer. Dr. Hansen was the first anesthesiologist to routinely care for children undergoing surgical repair with deep hypothermic cardiac arrest and to provide anesthesia in the hyperbaric chamber. Dr. Hansen administered anesthesia for the first Norwood Stage 1 procedure in 1983; an event reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, in which she was a coauthor. She astutely recognized that blunting of the surgical stress response in infants during cardiac surgery was essential for survival and published extensively in that area. Dr. Hansen retired in 2002 as an Associate Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. During her tenure at BCH, as Head of the Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia Division, Dr. Hansen built the largest Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia Service in the country, with 10 members at the time of her retirement.

When Dr. Dolly D. Hansen retired from BCH, she graciously donated funds for an endowed chair at Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Hansen's wishes were that the funds would be utilized to conduct research, provide education to generations of professionals caring for CHD patients, and to improve the lives of patients with CHD.

It is fitting to honor Dolly's remarkable career and fulfill her wishes by establishing the Dr. Dolly D. Hansen Educational Fund. This Fund is intended to serve the educational mission of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society.

Click here to donate to the Dolly D. Hansen, MD Educational Fund

Click here for a list of donors

On Wednesday, December 14, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a Drug Safety Communication warning that; “repeated or lengthy use of general anesthetic or sedation drugs during surgeries or procedures in children younger than three years of age or in pregnant women during the final trimester may affect development of children’s brains”.  The FDA defined lengthy as greater than three hours of exposure.

While there is abundant animal data concerning suspected toxicities in prolonged and multiple anesthetics, the accumulated human data suggest that one brief anesthetic is not associated with cognitive or behavioral abnormalities in children. Most but not all studies in children do however suggest an association between repeated and or prolonged exposure and subsequent difficulties with learning or behavior.  It is not yet known whether the anesthetic drug or some other factor is responsible for these findings.  Rigorous research to further characterize any possible associations is ongoing.   Click here for full statement.

The CCAS is a group of physician and affiliated providers who care for children and adults receiving anesthesia or sedation for cardiac anomalies. It is affiliated with the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia and holds annual meetings in conjunction with the SPA. Membership in the Yahoo discussion group is restricted to members of the CCAS or other healthcare providers.

Click here to join the discussion.

If you wish to be added to the discussion, please email ccas@societyhq.com.