Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Division of Neonatology

The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation Newborn and Infant Critical care Unit (NICCU) in the Marion and John E. Anderson Pavilion of Children’s’ Hospital Los Angeles has 58 licensed beds and the faculty and hospital staff provide care for critically ill preterm and term neonates and infants with complex medical and surgical conditions and, not infrequently, rare diseases. These patients receive the most advanced respiratory, cardiovascular and comprehensive intensive care support available using highly specialized and integrated multidisciplinary care and complex medical intensive care and surgical procedures. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is provided for the sickest neonates in the CHLA NICCU. Our ECMO program runs the largest neonatal non-cardiac ECMO program in California and one of the largest programs in the nation. Neonates and infants waiting for organ transplantation including but not restricted to kidney, lung, heart and heart-lung transplant are also cared for in the NICCU. The NICCU also runs one of the largest Therapeutic Hypothermia Programs in the nation in an attempt to improve outcomes of neonates born with birth depression and associated hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. A large number of patients of the Institute of Maternal-Fetal Health delivered at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center with complex prenatal diagnoses require immediate hospitalization and medical and surgical treatment following delivery. These patients are a transported to the CHLA NICCU or, if they have prenatally diagnosed congenital heart disease, to the CT-ICU of the Heart Institute at CHLA. The most important aspect of the clinical care provided in this unit is the multidisciplinary approach with over 35 different medical, surgical and supportive care subspecialities being involved in the provision of highly specialized yet comprehensive care for patients admitted to the NICCU. Most infants are transported by the CHLA Transport Program by air using two fully equipped transport helicopters. Patients are referred from hospitals not only from the Los Angeles basin and Southern California but also from Nevada, Arizona and from many other states in the US and, occasionally, abroad. The CHLA section also offers a CCS-accredited comprehensive High-risk Infant Follow-up (HRIFU) Service through The Newborn Follow-Up Program of the Fetal and Neonatal Institute.