Services & Specialties
CHARGE Syndrome

Simplifying Care for Your Child's Health and Development

Caring for children born with CHARGE syndrome is complicated. The CHARGE Center at Cincinnati Children’s − the only center of its kind − was created to give you the help you need to negotiate both the medical and developmental challenges associated with this condition.

We know families can feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of making and keeping appointments with the geneticist, ophthalmologist, cardiologist, the ENT doctor, the plastic surgeon, the developmental specialist, and so on—and then afterwards, of updating all these caregivers on what the rest are doing. By taking over the stresses of coordinating care, our center allows you to concentrate your attention where it is needed most: on your child. 

What Kinds of Care Do We Provide?  

Infants and toddlers with CHARGE syndrome often start off with major health issues as an infant, such as breathing and feeding problems caused by facial, throat, tracheal and/or esophageal malformations, as well as heart defects. Our center helps coordinate medical consultations to streamline evaluations and treatments for these physical issues.  

Once the basic medical problems have been addressed, our focus shifts to optimizing your child’s hearing, vision and development so that he or she is able to communicate and learn. Taking care of these issues as early as possible is important for your child’s well-being and prevents frustrations associated with challenges in communication.

A CHARGE patient smiling.

What does CHARGE stand for?

CHARGE is an acronym that stands for: 

Colobomas
Heart defects
Atresia of the nasal choanae
Restriction of development
Genitourinary abnormalities
Ear and hearing anomalies 

CHARGE Conference - Lectures

For patients and families.

The Cincinnati Children’s CHARGE Syndrome Conference featured lectures from a number of experts, covering an array of topics. 

You can view all of these lectures via our YouTube channel.