Sara M. Trucco, MD

Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Director of Quality Improvement, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

Administrative Assistant: Wanda Gilliam

Trucco earned her Bachelor of Science from Duke University in 1998. She received her Medical Degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2003, with an Area of Concentration in Healthcare of Underserved Populations. She then completed her pediatric residency training at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital of Stanford University Medical Center in 2006. Trucco subsequently completed her pediatric cardiology fellowship at the University of California San Francisco, Children’s Hospital. She then finalized her training with an advanced 4th year fellowship in interventional cardiology in New York at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Columbia University Medical Center.

Trucco joined the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in 2010, as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. She was appointed Director of Quality Improvement for Cardiac Catheterization in 2018. In 2019, Trucco was promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics and selected to serve as Associate Director ofthe Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. She is board certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology, and Adult Congenital Heart Disease. Since joining the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, Trucco’s mission has been to improve outcomes and treatment options for patients with congenital heart disease undergoing catheter-based therapies. As such, her career focus has been the development and application of novel catheter and device technology with an emphasis on quality improvement and clinical teaching.

Trucco’s research interests include radiation reduction of catheterization procedures, cardiac catheterization while on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and catheter-based treatment of single ventricle patients, particularly those that have developed pulmonary arteriovenous malformations. During her time at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, she has successfully driven an increase in cardiac catheterization case volume and complexity, while simultaneously providing the highest attention to patient safety with reduction in catheterization associated complications, thus ensuring patients and families experience the best possible care during these critical procedures.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

Allegheny County Medical Society, 1999-2003
American Medical Association, 1999-2004
American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003-Present
Thai Physician Association of America, 2005-Present
American College of Cardiology, 2006-Present
Western Society of Pediatric Cardiology, 2006-2009
Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, 2009-present
American Heart Association, 2010-Present
Congenital Cardiovascular Interventional Study Consortium (CCISC), 2010-Present

Education & Training

BS, Biology, Cum Laude, Duke University, 1998
MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2003
Internship and Residency in Pediatrics, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, 2003-2006
Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology, UCSF Children's Hospital, 2006-2009
Fellowship in Interventional Cath, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, 2009-2010

Selected Publications

Goldstein BH, Holzer RJ, Trucco SM, Porras D, Murphy J, Foerster SR, El-Said HG, Beekman RH 3rd, Bergersen L. Practice Variation in Single-Ventricle Patients Undergoing Elective Cardiac Catheterization: A Report from the Congenital Cardiac Catheterization Project on Outcomes (C3PO). Congenit Heart Dis. 2016 Mar-Apr; 11(2):122-35.

Cevallos, PC, Armstrong, AK, Glatz, AC, Goldstein, BH, Gudausky, TM. Leahy, RA. Petit, CJ, Shahanavaz, S, Trucco, SM, Bergersen, LJ. Radiation Dose Benchmarks in Pediatric Cardiac Catheterization: A prospective multi-center C3PO-QI study. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv. 2017 Aug 1; 90(2):269-280.

Gray, RG, Menon, SC, Johnson, JT, Armstrong, AK, Bingler, MA, Breinholt, JP, Kenny, D, Lozier, J, Murphy, J, Sathanandam, SK, Taggert, NW, Trucco, SM, Goldstein, BH, and Gordon, BM. Acute and Midterm Results Following Perventricular Device Closure of Muscular Ventricular Septal Defects: A Multicenter PICES Investigation. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv. 2017 Aug 1;90(2): 281-289.

Nwankwo, U, Goldstein, J, Trucco, SM, Kreutzer, J. Transcatheter Closure of a Mitral Valve Paravalvular Leak in an Infant. J of Struct Heart Dis. 2017; 3 (5).

Mistry, MS, Trucco, SM, Maul, T, Sharma, MS, West, S. Predictors of Poor Outcomes in Pediatric Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. World J for Pediatr and Congenit Heart Surg.2018; 9(3): 297-304.

Nwankwo, U, Morell, E, Trucco, SM, Morell, V, Kreutzer, J. Hybrid Strategy for Neonates with Ductal-dependent Systemic Circulation at High Risk for Norwood. Ann of Thorac Surg. 2018; 106(2):595-601.

Quinn, B, Armstrong, AK, Bausser-Heaton, HD, Callahan, RM, El-Said, HG, Foerster, SR, Goldstein, BH, Goodman, AS, Gudausky, TM, Kreuzter, J, Leahy, RA, Petit, CJ, Rockefeller, Shahanavaz, S, Trucco, SM, Bergersen, LJ. Radiation Risk Categories in Cardiac Catheterization for Congenital Heart Disease: A Tool to Aid in the Evaluation of Radiation Outcomes Pediatric Cardiology. Pediatric Cardiology. 2019; 40(2):445-453.

Zampi, JD, Alghanem, F, Yu, S, Callahan, R, Curzon, C, Delaney, JW, Gray, RG, Herbert, CE, Leahy, RA, Lowery, R, Pasquali, SK, Patel, PM, Porras, D, Shahanavaz, S, Thiagarajan, RR, Trucco, SM, Turner, ME, Veernan Reddy, SR, West, SC, Whiteside, W, Goldstein, BH. Relationship Between Time to Left Atrial Decompression and Outcomes in Patients Reciving Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Support: A Multicenter Pediatric Interventional Cardiology Early-career Society (PICES) Study. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. 2019 (Epup doi:10.1097).

Quinn, B, Cevallos, P, Armstrong, A, Balzer, D, El-Said, H, Foerster, S, Glatz, A, Goodman, A, Goldstein, B, Hainstock, M, Janssen, D, Kreutzer, J, Latson, L, Leahy, R, Petit, C, Shahanavaz, S, Trucco, SM, Whiteside, W, Zampi, J, Bergersen, L. Longitudinal Improvements in Radiation Exposure in Cardiac Catheterization for Congenital Heart Disease: A Prospective Multi-Center C3PO-QI Study. Circ: Cardiovasc Interv. (Submitted May 14, 2019).

Quinn, B, Gauvreau, K, Ali, F, Balzer, D, Barry, O, Batlivala, S, Berman, D, Foerster, S, Goldstein, B, Hainstock, M, Holzer, R, Janssen, D, O’Byrn, M, Shirely, L, Trucco, SM, Whiteside, W, Bergersen, L. Procedural Risk in Congenital Cardiac Catheterization (PREDIC3T). Circ. Interv.(Submitted 5/5/2020).

Full Publication List via NIH PubMed »

Research Grants

Comparison between surgical, vs. balloon angioplasty, vs. intravascular stent placement for recurrent or native coarctation of aorta (Co-I), 2010-present, Congenital Cardiovascular Interventional Study Consortium (CCISC).

Comparison between surgical Blalock-Taussig shunt and patent ductus arteriosus stent (Site PI), 2010-present, Congenital Cardiovascular Interventional Study Consortium (CCISC).

Compassion XT PAS Post Market Approval Study (Co-I), 2017-2022, Edwards Life Sciences.

MDC-CAN-15-01, Safety of Different Cangrelor Doses in Neonatal Subjects at Risk of Thrombosis (Co-I) 2018-present, Chiesi USA, Inc.

Progression and outcomes in pulmonary vein stenosis (Site PI), 2018-present, Pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) Network, $1000.