Michael LaCorte, M.D.

Director, Pediatric Cardiology

Heart disease doesn’t just happen to adults. Happily, most children begin life healthy and stay that way. But 8 in 1,000 children are born with heart problems, and others may develop or acquire heart disease later in childhood.

The good news is that constantly improving technology leading to better diagnoses can save many children and their parents from potential heartbreak! Using state-of-the-art technology that often doesn’t require surgery has made Staten Island University Hospital’s Pediatric Cardiology Program a forerunner in the treatment of children with heart problems.

“Now, picture your heart”...is how Michael LaCorte, M.D., University Hospital’s Director of Pediatric Cardiology, reassures young patients, and their diagnostic procedure that relies upon sonar, or sound waves, to give a “picture” of the heart. He uses these tests, particularly echocardiography, to learn how well a child’s heart is working.

In Dr. LaCorte’s skilled hands, this safe, non-invasive method of testing has almost completely replaced diagnostic cardiac catheterizations in children of all ages. Babies who are at risk before birth can be diagnosed with this method by uncovering conditions early on in pregnancy and monitoring the baby’s heart throughout the pregnancy.

Learning of a potential problem before birth can help doctors plan on prompt and optimal treatment after the child has been born.

Today, one in every five pregnancy is high risk creating a need for detecting of cardiac abnormality in the womb. James Ducey, M.D., Obstetrics and Gynecology’s Divisional Director for Obstetrics and Maternal/Fetal Medicine, along with Dr. LaCorte, completes the team that uses fetal echocardiography and cardiopulmonary testing in utero, giving unborn babies the benefit of early diagnosis.

Occasionally, a more serious situation arises and a child requires open heart surgery to correct a congenital defect. Our affiliation with Schneider Children’s Hospital assures parents that their child will benefit from the professional expertise of two of the finest hospitals in the country receiving the finest treatment on Staten Island and traveling by special pediatric transport to Schneider Children’s Hospital, where a team of expert surgeons in the field of Pediatric Open Heart Surgery will perform the operation led by Dr. Vincent Parnell, Surgeon-in-Chief. After a brief recovery in Schneider Children’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the child may return home to Staten Island University Hospital’s special Pediatric ICU, where Dr. LaCorte and his specially trained staff will carefully monitor the remainder of the child’s recovery.

Dr. LaCorte is a graduate of the N.Y.U. School of Medicine.  He completed his residency at N.Y.U. Bellevue and fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology at Children’s Hospital, Boston. Dr. LaCorte served as Chief of Pediatric Cardiology at North Shore University Hospital from 1981-1991 and is presently the Director of Schneider Children’s Center at Brooklyn. He has published extensively with special interest in Echocardiology and has served as an officer in local societies including the Pediatric Cardiology Society of Greater New York.

Dr. LaCorte will be available for consultations on the in-patient Pediatric Units at Staten Island University Hospital and at the Children’s Subspecialty Center, 584 Forest Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10310.

For an appointment please call:  (718) 226-5619.

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