Team approach helps family deal with rare congenital heart defect
Thanks to collaborative prenatal care, Kinlee Hock is thriving despite a left ventricle aneurysm.
When Kaitlyn Hock was pregnant, she and her husband Mitchell learned their unborn child had a rare, serious congenital heart defect.
The Bloomsburg couple didn’t know if their daughter’s heart would fail or if she would need emergency surgery or a heart transplant.
“We weren’t sure what would happen, how she would be able to handle it. That was the scariest part,” Mitchell Hock says, recalling the prenatal diagnosis in 2022. “We didn’t know until she was born.”
Today, their daughter Kinlee’s heart is pumping well and she’s a happy, playful toddler. The couple is thankful for advanced pediatric medical care through a partnership between Geisinger Heart and Vascular Institute, Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
A collaborative approach to pediatric care
Kinlee was diagnosed in utero with a left ventricle aneurysm, which causes weakness in the heart’s main pumping chamber. Shuping Ge, MD, a pediatric cardiologist and the chair of pediatric and adult congenital cardiology at Geisinger, diagnosed the defect. He collaborated with a specialist at CHOP who has experience with such rare cases.
“It’s a significant heart problem,” says Dr. Ge. “The aneurysm in the left ventricle is very large and does not contract well. As a result, it affects heart function before, during and after delivery. I have seen cases like this, but this was the largest left ventricular aneurysm I had seen in over 20 years.”
After discussing the case, the two specialists recommended the Hocks go to CHOP before birth and deliver the baby there in case there was a need for intervention before, during or shortly after delivery.
“Fortunately, there was no need for intervention and the baby did well with no signs of heart failure after delivery,” Dr. Ge says.
Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital and CHOP forged an affiliation agreement in 2021, paving the way for collaboration across many areas of pediatric medicine. The Hocks spent a couple of months in Philadelphia and moved back home shortly after Kinlee was born. Since then, the two hospital programs have collaboratively managed Kinlee’s care.
Finding encouragement during and after pregnancy
Kaitlyn Hock says the medical professionals they met gave them hope.
“Geisinger maternal-fetal medicine and fetal cardiology were just fantastic throughout the entire prenatal process. It was such a difficult time for us. We didn’t know what was going to happen to our baby,” she says. “We felt very comfortable at Geisinger because we felt like a patient, not a number. They knew the right people to talk to and collaborate with to get us what we needed.”
Diane Timms, DO, division chief of Geisinger maternal-fetal medicine, says Kinlee’s heart defect was the first of its kind she had seen.
“We followed the Hocks through pregnancy in conjunction with CHOP,” Dr. Timms says. “We watched how the baby was growing and made sure we didn’t see any acute changes in the aneurysm that might suggest she needed to immediately go to CHOP.”
Ms. Hock says Jack Rychik, MD, medical director of the Fetal Heart Program at CHOP reassured them that he had seen cases like Kinlee’s, and he offered a positive outlook.
“That made us feel better knowing he’s seen something exactly like this. He’s seen these patients grow up and be able to function without too much intervention,” she says.
Providing the best outcomes for congenital heart defects
Kinlee takes medication to prevent heart failure, but the heart defect hasn’t slowed her down.
“She’s flourishing, acting normal,” Mr. Hock says. “They don’t want to do anything at this point. We’ve been very fortunate and we hope it keeps going that way.”
Ms. Hock adds, “CHOP and Geisinger collaborate so well. They’re in constant communication. We can link MyCHOP and Geisinger’s MyChart, so everyone is always seeing exactly what’s going on. It’s been a smooth process.”
Dr. Ge says the hospitals’ collaboration is a model of patient care for certain rare and high-risk cases.
“The goal is to use the best resources to provide the best quality of care to achieve the best possible outcome,” he says. “This is an example of how we do that for patients with congenital heart defects in our communities.”
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