Picture of Heart Health
Echocardiography
at the Heart Institute |
"I'm proud of the Echocardiography Lab at Cincinnati Children's because the state-of-the-art program gives a detailed, accurate, timely and complete evaluation of a patient's entire cardiovascular system."
Thomas R. Kimball, MD, Director, Echocardiography
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The Clinical Echocardiography Program – part of the interdisciplinary Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center – features the Midwest's largest pediatric echocardiography staff and is a national leader in supplying echocardiography physicians for academic positions across the country.
More than 10,000 studies are performed each year at Cincinnati Children's Echocardiography Lab, which is staffed by nine attending cardiologists and 10 sonographers specializing in the field. The Echocardiography Lab is equipped with state-of-the-art ultrasound imaging utilizing all available modalities, including transthoracic, transesophageal, fetal, dobutamine and exercise stress studies, and vascular ultrasound.
Ground-Breaking Treatments for Pediatric Heart Conditions
In addition to its support of the clinical echo program, the Cincinnati Children's Heart Institute is a national pioneer in echocardiography, being the first and one of few institutions that supports a dedicated echo lab providing both cardiac and vascular imaging for research purposes. In addition, the Heart Institute is unique nationally for its extensive echo quality assurance program, introduced nearly two decades ago to measure the accuracy of echocardiograms following catheterization and surgery – as well as for its dedicated nurses for infants and toddlers needing sedation to remain still for examinations. Most recently, the Heart Institute launched one of the first transtelephonic echo interpretation programs in the country, enabling doctors at Cincinnati Children's to provide real-time diagnosis of children at remote hospitals by reading echocardiograms over the internet.
Echcardiography Facilitates Comprehensive Diagnoses
Transthoracic echocardiograms provide a complete diagnosis and are harmless and painless. At Cincinnati Children's they are performed in a four-exam-room suite with television and videotapes in each room for the patients' relaxation and peace of mind.
Transesophageal echocardiograms are performed in the operating room to immediately evaluate the results of heart surgery. A comprehensive fetal echocardiography program provides detailed information on a baby's heart before birth and counseling to the parents. The stress echocardiography program involves performing echocardiography during stress – usually exercise – providing an assessment of the function of the heart and its valves during the more typically active state of children.
Contact the Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children's
For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact the Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
