We're focused on the future of pediatric cardiology, and that future includes you.
The Heart Center at Children's Hospital New Orleans partners with LSU Health
New Orleans to provide the only pediatric cardiology fellowship training
program in Louisiana. We love working with passionate general pediatricians
to give them specialized training needed to become the successful pediatric
cardiologists of tomorrow.
“Ultimately, the legacy we leave as clinicians and professors is
not only excellent, life-long medical care to our patients but also excellent
teaching and career development to our trainees” says Dr. Thomas
Kimball, the Chief of Pediatric Cardiology for LSU and Co-Director of
the Children’s Hospital New Orleans Heart Center.
The program’s Fellowship Director, Dr. Kelly Gajewski, shares, “Our
entire pediatric cardiology faculty is dedicated to providing excellent
education, in not only the clinical science of pediatric cardiology but
also in clinical research, quality improvement and in leadership skills.”
The Cardiology Department of The Heart Center at Children’s Hospital
provides comprehensive evaluation and treatment of children and adults
with a full range of cardiovascular conditions, from clinic consultations
for innocent heart murmurs to intensive care of critically ill patients
with complex congenital heart disease.
Common conditions treated in the heart center:
Heart murmurs
Syncope (fainting)
Chest pain
Palpitations or irregular heart rhythms
Heart failure and cardiomyopathies
Congenital heart defects
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
In addition to the services provided at Children’s Hospital, the
cardiologists travel to off-site clinics in Covington, Metairie, Marrero,
Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Gulfport, and Thibodaux. They also provide expert
interpretations of echocardiograms and electrocardiograms (EKGs) from
a number of referral centers around the state and provide telemedicine
consultations for patients in remote locations.
Cardiology fellowship program
Through The Heart Center’s partnership with LSU Health New Orleans,
Children’s Hospital has the only pediatric cardiology fellowship
training program in Louisiana. This provides interested general pediatricians
the specialized training needed to become successful pediatric cardiologists.
In addition, LSU Health medical students and residents receive training
in the diagnosis and management of heart disease in children.
The Children’s Hospital Department of Cardiology is proud to provide
the following services to its patients:
Cardiac Catheterization
Advanced, invasive diagnostic and interventional procedures are performed
in a specialized digital biplane Cardiovascular Catheterization Laboratory.
Two pediatric and congenital interventional cardiologists provide expertise
in every available form of diagnostic and interventional procedures, including:
Device closure of Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), Patent Ductus Arteriosus
(PDA), and Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)
Transcatheter valve replacements
Balloon or stent angioplasty for revascularization of narrowed blood vessels
Embolization of abnormal collateral vessels or AVMs
Atrial septostomy for infants born with transposition of the great arteries,
or other severe congenital heart defects
Valvuloplasty for narrowed heart valves
They also work collaboratively with our surgeons to provide “hybrid”
procedures when clinically indicated.
Follow our friend Willie and his dad as they give you a behind the scenes
look at our Cardiac Catheterization Lab and the admission process prior
to your scheduled procedure. With the growing involvement of digital media
into healthcare, our extraordinary Cath Lab team of doctors and nurses
want to offer patients and families this video to help you learn what
to expect before visiting Children’s Hospital New Orleans. Partnering
with The Association for Medical Imaging Management/Canon Medical systems
"Putting Patients First" Program, we are proud to introduce
you to our team and give you an inside look at a day in the life of a
cardiac catheterization patient.
Electrophysiology
The Heart Center has an electrophysiologist that provides comprehensive
diagnostic and interventional procedures for patients with heart rhythm
abnormalities, including Holter and event monitoring, implantable loop
recorders, exercise stress testing, implantation and monitoring of pacemakers
and defibrillators (AICDs), as well as electrophysiology studies and ablation
procedures. The center also provides an in-depth evaluation of patients
with a family history of sudden cardiac death or familial dysrhythmias.
Heart Failure/Cardiomyopathy Program
The heart failure/cardiomyopathy program is part of an interdisciplinary
team under our well-established cardiology program at Children's Hospital
New Orleans. Our team consists of board-certified pediatric cardiothoracic
surgeons, pediatric cardiologists, and cardiac specialty nurse practitioners
who are skilled experts in the field of pediatric cardiology. We provide
both inpatient and outpatient consultation for diagnosis, management,
and prognosis of all types of heart failure/cardiomyopathy, some of the
more common forms include failed congenital heart disease repair, primary
and secondary dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, restrictive
cardiomyopathy, left ventricular non-compaction, and cardiomyopathy associated
with neurologic/genetic disorders.
Fetal Cardiology
The growing Fetal Cardiology Clinic provides expert anatomic and functional
assessments of the tiniest of hearts – particularly the fetuses
of new mothers with family or personal histories of cardiac defects, rhythm
disturbances, or other abnormal findings detected by their obstetrician.
Detailed consultations help diagnose cardiac abnormalities in utero, and
if necessary, prepare the family, the obstetric providers, and The Heart
Center team with a delivery and transport plan, hospital tour, information
about the baby’s cardiac diagnosis and a meeting with the cardiac
surgeons, when necessary.
The fetal cardiologists work closely with the perinatologists, neonatologists
and congenital heart surgeons to provide the highest level of care for
babies with a cardiac abnormality during pregnancy, labor and delivery
and in the neonatal period.
Adult congenital heart disease
The mission of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program within The Heart
Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans is to provide comprehensive
care for the adolescent and adult with congenital heart disease regardless
of age or illness severity. Our clinic offers a complete range of diagnostic
and treatment services for patients with adult congenital heart disease,
including minimally-invasive procedures. Children's is one of only 44
programs nationwide to receive this accreditation and is the only hospital
in Louisiana and the Gulf South to earn this distinction from the Adult
Congenital Heart Association.
Learn more.
Pediatric coronary artery disease
The Pediatric Coronary Artery Clinic of the Heart Center is one of only
a few pediatric coronary programs in the country and the only program
of its kind in the Southeast. The Clinic provides special expertise in
the diagnosis and management of pediatric coronary artery disease. Specific
conditions that we treat include Kawasaki Disease and congenital problems
of the coronary arteries such as abnormal origins or courses of the arteries.
The team consists of specialists in pediatric cardiology, preventive cardiology,
pediatric cardiovascular surgery, and adult congenital heart disease.
Visits consist of a comprehensive evaluation including a thorough history
and physical examination, electrocardiogram, and echocardiogram. In many
instances, the visit will also included imaging with a CT scan and stress
testing. This information is reviewed by the team to arrive at a detailed
and comprehensive management plan developed specifically for your child
and family.
High Risk Home Monitoring Program
The Heart Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans has a dedicated
Home Monitoring Program for babies and infants with high-risk heart problems
to decrease morbidity and mortality for these particularly vulnerable
patients. The mission of the Children’s Hospital Heart Center Home
Monitoring Program is to provide comprehensive care for all high-risk
single ventricle patients between their first and second stages of surgical
palliation as well as for those complex two ventricle patients requiring
neonatal palliation prior to their definitive surgical repair. The interstage
period for single ventricle patients is known to carry a higher mortality
than any other timeframe during these patients’ lives, and careful
monitoring has been shown to significantly decrease both their morbidity
and mortality during this phase. Our goal is to decrease the number of
re-admissions and interstage mortality, giving our single ventricle population
the best quality of life.
Learn more.
Non-invasive Imaging
The echocardiography laboratory performs over 5,500 echocardiograms each
year for patients with congenital and acquired heart disease from fetal
life and infancy through adulthood. The 5 pediatric cardiology imaging
specialists and 9 trained pediatric cardiac sonographers provide transthoracic
echocardiography services for both the inpatient and outpatient pediatric
population, as well as transesophageal and epicardial imaging support
in both the cardiac operating room and cardiac catheterization laboratory.
Stress echocardiograms are offered as well as advanced analysis using
3-dimensional imaging.
The echocardiography laboratory is fully accredited by the Intersocietal
Accreditation Commission (IAC) in transthoracic, transesophageal, and
fetal echocardiography. Children’s Hospital also provides diagnostic
imaging through our Radiology division, including cardiac MRI and CT angiography.
Neurodevelopment
Children with congenital heart disease are known to be at higher risk for
neurodevelopmental impairment than the general population. These issues
can affect multiple areas of development including intelligence, academic
achievement, motor skills, language, psychosocial adjustment, attention,
and executive functioning. The Heart Center at Children’s Hospital
is dedicated to providing comprehensive care to all of our patients, including
monitoring and treatment for any neurodevelopmental disabilities. We provide
easy access to screening for all of our complex patients, with direct
involvement of neurodevelopmental pediatricians.
Children's Hospital New Orleans Cardiology is proud to be participating
in LSUHSC's Louisiana Adolescent Focus implementing AHI’s evidence-based
intervention, the Adolescent Champion Model.
Louisiana Adolescent Focus utilizes the Champion Model to drive health
centers to become adolescent-centered medical homes. The Champion Model
is a multi-faceted intervention to address a health center’s environment,
policies, and practices to ensure that all aspects of a visit to the health
center are youth-centered.
Children's Hospital Cardiology has made incredible adolescent-centered
changes to our clinic, including providing access to online scheduling
and adolescent-oriented health education materials, and establishing protocols
to ensure that adolescents receive evidence-based care.
