Howaida El-Said, M.D., Ph.D.

Bio

Dr. Howaida El-Said is the director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and professor of clinical pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine. She is board-certified in pediatric cardiology as well as in adult congenital heart disease.

Dr. El-Said completed her pediatrics residency, pediatric cardiology fellowship, imaging fellowship and interventional pediatric cardiology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She trained under the founder and father of interventional pediatric cardiology, Dr. Charles Mullins, which gave her vast exposure to the most complex adult congenital heart disease cases.

After completing her medical training in 2000, Dr. El-Said became an associate pediatric cardiologist at Baylor before coming to San Diego. She performs close to half of the diagnostic and interventional procedures at the Rady Children's cardiac catheterization laboratory (300 cases/year). The majority of her procedures are on neonates and children. She specializes in patent ductus arteriosus stenting, premature PDA closure, radiofrequency pulmonary valve perforation in pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum, and percutaneous pulmonary valve placement. Thirty percent of her catheterization cases are adults with congenital heart disease.

Dr. El-Said helped found Rady Children’s single ventricle multidisciplinary clinic for Fontan patients and is active in Fontan outcomes research to improve outcomes. Additionally, she helped initiate the home monitoring program for infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and PDA stenting, which was created to improve survival for vulnerable infants and to optimize their neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Dr. El-Said has been practicing for over 20 years and remains an active clinical researcher, having authored over 100 publications. She has also been active in the interventional community nationally and internationally. She was the chair of the CHD council at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (2020-2022) and selected as SCAI’s program director for 2024.

Dr. El-Said is a mother of three young adults and enjoys swimming and cooking in her spare time.

Publications

The Wire Twisting/Locking Technique to Facilitate Precise PDA Stent Delivery in Neonates with Ductal-Dependent Pulmonary Blood Flow.
Hesari M, Ng'eno M, Gordon BM, AlShawabkeh L, Ryan JR, Fulk C, El-Said H

The Fate of the Jailed Branch: Challenging the Dogma of PDA Stenting in Cases with a Pulmonary Artery Branch Originating from the PDA.
Ng'eno M, Gordon BM, Rao R, Ryan JR, Haley J, Ganta S, Nigro J, El-Said H

A Novel Modification of the Melody Valve in a Short Right Ventricle-Pulmonary Artery Conduit: A Case Report.
Hesari M, Bencheikh N, Peterson D, Ryan JR, Shibbani K, Fulk C, El-Said H

Pulmonary Atresia with Intact Ventricular Septum, an Evolving Strategy in the Era of PDA Stenting: Single Center Experience.
Shibbani K, Nigro J, Rao R, Gordon BM, Justino H, AlShawabkeh L, El-Said H

Transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement after arterial switch operation.
Nageotte S, Salavitabar A, Zablah JE, Ligon RA, Turner ME, El-Said H, Guyon P, Boucek D, Alvarez-Fuente M, McElhinney DB, Balzer D, Shahanavaz S

Interventions for Congenital Heart Disease.
Ing FF, El-Said H

Stenting of the Patent Ductus Arteriosus.
Price K, Ryan JR, El-Said H

Comparing Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Infants With Patent Ductus Arteriosus Stenting Versus Blalock-Taussig-Thomas Shunt: A Pilot Study.
El-Said H, Hussein A, Price K, Heibel J, Haley J, Haldeman S, Boulil Z, Brigger M, Rao A, Ganta S, Rao R, Nigro J, Sweeney N

Early identification of SOX17 deficiency in infants to guide management of heritable pulmonary arterial hypertension using PDA stent to create reverse Potts shunt physiology.
Ostler H, Fall C, El-Said H, Justino H, Haldeman S, Carroll J, Rao R

Transcatheter Patent Ductus Arteriosus Closure in Premature Infants: A Multicenter Retrospective Study Comparing Available Devices.
Dalby ST, Shibbani K, Mercadante A, Veeram Reddy SR, Aldoss O, Gordon BM, El-Said H, Mohammad Nijres B

Stage 1 and 2 Palliation: Comparing Ductal Stenting and Aorto-Pulmonary Shunts in Single Ventricles with Duct-Dependent Pulmonary Blood Flow.
Ganta S, Haley J, El-Said H, Lane B, Haldeman S, Karamlou T, Moore J, Rao R, Nigro JJ

Impact of Stenting on PDA Length, Curvature, and Pulsatile Deformations Based on CT Assessment.
Cheng CP, Bondesson J, Hegde S, Acuero MT, El-Said HG

Bronchial Remodeling Following Airway Stenting in Pediatric Patients With Tracheobronchial and Congenital Heart Disease.
El-Said H, Price K, Hussein A, Ganta S, Rao A, Nigro J, Brigger MT

Safety and Short-Term Outcomes for Infants < 2.5 kg Undergoing PDA Device Closure: A C3PO Registry Study.
Barry OM, Gudausky TM, Balzer DT, Bocks ML, Boe BA, Callahan R, El-Said H, Farias MJ, Foerster S, Goldstein BH, Holzer RJ, Janssen D, Levy P, O'Byrne ML, Rahman G, Sathanandam S, Shahanavaz S, Whiteside W, Turner ME

Erratum: Stenting of the Patent Ductus Arteriosus: A Meta-analysis and Literature Review.
Bauser-Heaton H, Price K, Weber R, El-Said H

Chronic active Epstein-Barr virus and hydroa vacciniforme-like lymphoproliferative disorder in a pediatric patient complicated by fatal ruptured cerebral artery aneurysm.
Yi T, Steinberg J, Olson S, El-Said H, Mo J, Anderson E, Gloude N, Schiff D

Surgical Mitral Valve Replacement Using a Catheter-Based Melody(TM) Valve in a Landing Zone Constructed With a PTFE-Covered Expandable Cheatham-Platinum(TM) Stent.
El-Said H, Hussein A, Ganta S, Ryan J, Nigro J

Transcatheter Hepatic Conduit-Azygous Vein Connection Reduces Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformations in a Cyanotic Fontan Patient.
Ratnayaka K, Wei ZA, Ryan JR, Heyden CM, Narayan HK, Slesnick TC, Lederman RJ, Moore JW, Yoganathan AP, El-Said HG

Exercise Stress Echocardiography in Kawasaki Disease Patients with Coronary Aneurysms.
Tedla BA, Burns JC, Tremoulet AH, Shimizu C, Gordon JB, El-Said H, Golding F, Davis CK, Dummer KB

Regionalization of Care in Congenital Interventional Cardiology.
Bauser-Heaton H, El-Said H, Hijazi ZM, Vincent RN, Zellers TM, Ing FF, SCAI 2022 Think Tank Congenital Consortium: Margaret LeVasseur

Simultaneous Stenting With Edwards SAPIEN Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve Replacement.
Heibel J, Reeves R, Alshawabkeh L, Justino H, El-Said H

Institutional Trend in Device Selection for Transcatheter PDA Closure in Premature Infants.
Guyon P, Duster N, Katheria A, Heyden C, Griffin D, Steinbergs R, Moreno Rojas A, Ratnayaka K, El-Said HG

Selective Use of Pulmonary Vasodilators in Patients with Fontan Physiology.
Glenn T, Duster N, Dwek J, Silva-Sepulveda J, El-Said HG

Stenting of the Patent Ductus Arteriosus: A Meta-analysis and Literature Review.
Bauser-Heaton H, Price K, Weber R, El-Said H

Pulmonary Atresia With Intact Ventricular Septum: From Radiofrequency Perforation to Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve.
Dreger NJ, Herrick NL, Guyon PW Jr, Moore JW, El-Said HG

See the full listing of this physician's publications on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.

PubMed is a third-party website and not affiliated with Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego.