MUSC program ranks 19th

The pumping station of R.J. Stokes' heart began to fail during his first breath.

After 44 days of life he was resting in a Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital recovery room, eyes wide, taking in what has become his home. His survival with hypoplastic ventricles is a testament to the hospital's success, illustrated in a recently published story released by U.S. News and World Report.

For years nationwide hospital rankings relied only on reputation, but the more in-depth study rated MUSC Children's Hospital's pediatric heart and heart surgery program as 19th best in the nation.

The ranking included data from 2002-07 and considered such program areas as mortality rates, reputation and availability of specialized surgeons.

For the last 10 years Phil Saul, MUSC Children's Hospital pediatric cardiology physician-in-chief, helped build the ranked program into what it is today. The hospital scored the lowest possible for reputation, which means few doctors at other hospitals referred patients to MUSC. But all other aspects of the review received glowing reports.

"It's like getting a zero on half of a test and still getting an A," he said. "The difference was that they didn't do these rankings five years ago. For years it was just a beauty contest. This year was the first with numbers."

MUSC shares the best possible mortality score with nine of the 30 hospitals ranked, an aspect Saul said he considers one of the most important. Over five years the program handled 1,790 cases, and 98.8 percent of those people survived, illustrating that all other areas in the program work. The national average is 93 percent, he said.

After open-heart surgery and a cardiac arrest, R.J. is still beating the odds. His parents, Stacy and Jason Stokes of Greenville, are at his side at all times.

"Our cardiologist that we have in Greenville said, 'You could go to North Carolina, you can go to Boston — but if it was my child I'd go to Charleston,' " Stacey Stokes said.

So R.J. was born in Charleston. "R.J.'s done nothing by the book, and they've taken wonderful care of him," his mom said.

R.J. has a long way to go, and his time in the hospital is just beginning. Children born with hypoplastic ventricles have several surgeries, and his next is scheduled when he is 4 months old. Another will take place when he's 3.

"He's never been home yet," Stacy said. "But he'll get there. One day."

The hospital's pediatric heart and heart surgery program takes adult cases when specialized care is needed. Christopher Herbert, 33, of Hampton also started life with a heart condition. One of his major blood vessels decreased the blood flow to his legs, setting the stage for blood pressure problems being solved today. On Wednesday doctors inserted a large atrium cover stent into his body, the first time this procedure had even been performed on a human.

"The first thing I noticed after I woke up and stuff was that my feet weren't cold anymore," Herbert said.