Cardiology/Heart Disease
Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging
The following painless, non-invasive imaging techniques allow us to get a detailed picture of your child’s heart to examine its structure and function, measure blood pressure in heart chambers, and identify abnormalities:
- 3-d echocardiography
- cardiac computed tomography (ct)
- fetal echocardiography
- electrocardiography (ECG or EKG)
- magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Exercise Testing
Exercise testing examines the interactions of the heart and lungs during exertion. These tests evaluate how well a child’s heart and lungs work while exercising – on a treadmill or stationary bicycle or while walking. Technicians measure heart rate, rhythm, blood pressure and oxygen levels. Results are used to determine the cause of chest pain and evaluate heart and lung function, fitness, and the effectiveness of drug therapies.
Holter Monitoring
A Holter monitor is a small, portable ECG recording device the patient wears on his or her body over a period of 24 or more hours to continuously monitor the electrical activity of the heart. Since arrhythmias may be transient in nature and not detected during the shorter recording times of the ECG, Holter monitoring may be done when arrhythmia is suspected but not seen on a standard ECG.
Cardiac Catheterization
Cardiac catheterization is a specialized procedure in which a long, flexible tube (catheter) is inserted into a vein and artery and gently guided into the heart, allowing a close look at the structures. Doctors may recommend cardiac catheterization to learn more about your child’s heart problem or treat the disorder with a minimally invasive interventional procedure. Cardiac catheterization maybe performed on children of any age.
Newyork-Presbyterian is a leader in catheterization technological advances and our physicians have particular expertise in pediatric interventional cardiology. These therapeutic procedures often require only one day of hospitalization and use techniques that can prevent the need for open-heart surgical repair and heart-lung bypass.
Catheterization procedures can be used to:
- closely observe heart structure
- close holes in the heart
- measure blood pressure at specific
- expand narrowed passageslocations within the heart
- open heart valves
- treat an abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmias)
Newyork-Presbyterian is a leader in catheterization technological advances. Our catheterization center is led by Dr. Ajay Mirani, an expert in pediatric interventional cardiology.
Arrhythmia Management & Electrophysiology
Services include evaluation and treatment of abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmias) and pacemaker procedures. We perform studies on children who have experienced heart palpitations or unexplained fainting, using cardiac catheterization.
Pediatric Heart Surgery
Led by Dr. Jonathan M. Chen, we have one of the most preeminent cardiac surgery programs in the nation. Our pediatric cardiac team has surgical expertise in repair of all forms of congenital and acquired heart disorders, including:
- neonatal heart surgery
- valve repairs
- ventricular and atrial septal defects
- complex single ventricle operations
- Aortic reconstruction and repair of aortic coarctation
Our strength is the result of a collaborative effort among our outstanding clinicians in pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery, pediatric intensive care medicine, perfusion, nursing, and anesthesiology. All have expertise and lengthy training in pediatric cardiac surgery. These specialists work together as a team every day, which translates into optimal outcomes for our young patients. We benefit from the additional expertise offered by Newyork-Presbyterian’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.
Treatment of Adult Congenital Heart Disease
As a result of successful treatment of congenital heart defects since the 1960s, adolescents and adults with congenital heart disease are a unique and growing population.
We provide cardiology and cardiac surgery care for adults with heart defects whose needs require a special combination of skills – the background of a pediatric cardiologist who understands the congenital defect, combined with the skills of cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons who can treat a newly diagnosed congenital condition, revise earlier pediatric surgical repairs, and treat any adult heart disease that has developed as a result of a congenital condition. our team works closely with referring physicians, who are consulted on all diagnoses and treatment recommendations.
