The Melody Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve, or Melody valve, is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved replacement pulmonary valve.

Until recent years, a defective pulmonary valve often needed repair through open heart surgery. Now a less invasive procedure is available. Specialized interventional cardiologists implant the Melody valve through a catheter (a long, thin tube) that is threaded through the child’s blood vessels to reach the site of the faulty pulmonary valve.

The Melody valve is then deployed and replaces the blocked or leaky pulmonary valve.

The board-certified and fellowship-trained pediatric heart specialists at Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, were the first in Kentucky to implant a Melody valve. Our interventional cardiologists have been implanting Melody valves in children since 2013.

Norton Children’s Heart Institute is the leading provider of pediatric heart care in Louisville and Southern Indiana.

Norton Children’s has a network of outreach diagnostic and treatment services conveniently located throughout Kentucky and Southern Indiana.

Why Choose Norton Children’s Heart Institute

• Norton Children’s Hospital has been a pioneer in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, performing Kentucky’s first pediatric heart transplant in 1986 and becoming the second site in the United States to perform an infant heart transplant.
• The American Board of Thoracic Surgery has certified our cardiothoracic surgeons in congenital heart surgery.
• The Adult Congenital Heart Association has accredited Norton Children’s Heart Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program as the only comprehensive care center in Kentucky and Indiana treating adults born with a heart defect.
• More than 17,000 children a year visit Norton Children’s Heart Institute for advanced heart care.
• Norton Children’s Heart Institute has offices across Kentucky and Southern Indiana to bring quality pediatric heart care closer to home.
• The Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Norton Children’s Hospital is the largest dedicated CICU in Kentucky, equipped with 17 private rooms and the newest technology available for heart care.