Cardiology

Our team of internationally respected pediatric cardiologists provides care for complex to common heart conditions. Our patients range in age from babies in the womb to young adults with congenital heart defects.

Our entire team of pediatric specialists, who are available for consultation with your child’s heart team 24/7, provide experience and expertise to shepherd you and your family from diagnosis through treatment. We then coordinate follow-up care for your child as long as he or she needs.

Cardiology at Children’s National Hospital: Why Choose Us

Features of our program include:

• Pediatric Heart Experts. Every member of your child’s heart team has extensive training and experience in pediatric heart care. In fact, caring for children with heart conditions is all we do. Meet our team.
• Subspecialty Care: We also offer 24/7 access to more than 40 subspecialties, so you know there’s a pediatric expert to consult with your child’s doctors, no matter what.
• Advanced Cardiac Technology. We use the most sophisticated diagnostic and treatment technology. Whether it is cardiac MRI to get detailed images of your child’s heart, advanced monitoring devices in our cardiac intensive care unit, or catheters and devices specifically designed for children, your child’s health, safety, and comfort are always our top priorities. 
• Family Resources. Our goal is to maximize the quality of our patients’ lives and ease the stress on families. Children’s National Heart Institute provides many family-centered services because we understand that when a child is ill, it affects the entire family.

Pediatric Heart Care: Services We Provide

We offer a full range of heart care for your child. Learn more about our services:

Cardiac Catheterization

Our team of cardiac interventionists performs more than 600 procedures annually. Our doctors possess special expertise with the use of intravascular stents in the treatment of severe pulmonary artery stenosis and other blood vessel abnormalities. We also offer minimally invasive closure of some types of congenital heart disease with outstanding outcomes and quick recovery without the need for surgery. Learn more about our Cardiac Catheterization Lab.

Cardiac Imaging

We offer advanced imaging techniques to obtain highly detailed pictures of your child’s heart structure and function:

• Echocardiography: This is an ultrasound of the heart. We perform more than 20,000 echocardiograms per year, including nearly 3,000 fetal echocardiograms, making us one of the busiest echocardiography laboratories in the country. 
• Cardiac MRI: A noninvasive imaging technique, cardiac MRI provides comprehensive evaluations for complex heart conditions, such as tetralogy of Fallot and cardiomyopathies. 
• Interventional Cardiac MRI: This unique program allows us to perform MRI procedures and cardiac catheterization procedures on the same day, reducing the need for sedation and multiple procedures. 

Electrophysiology

Our expert pediatric electrophysiologists provide comprehensive heart rhythm management of arrhythmias and syncope in children. We offer the latest and safest technologies, including cryoablation therapy, and 3-D mapping without X-ray radiation. Learn more about our Electrophysiology Program.

Prenatal Cardiology Program

Through this innovative program, the unborn child is cared for as a separate and individual patient. Comprehensive care begins in utero and is coordinated in partnership with referring maternal prenatal pediatrics specialists and obstetricians with many subspecialties, including cardiology, cardiac surgery, genetics, and radiology. A unique feature of the program is while our team cares for the prenatal heart, we monitor brain function and other aspects of prenatal development to ensure the best outcomes. Learn more about the Prenatal Cardiology Program.

Preventive Cardiology Program 

This multidisciplinary program (the combination of different specialists) is working to improve the diets and lifestyles of our patients to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. These risk factors include abnormal cholesterol, hypertension, increased weight, and other adverse lifestyle choices, such as lack of exercise and tobacco use. Learn more about the Preventive Cardiology Program.

Washington Adult Congenital Heart Program

In order to ensure that our patients have appropriate heart care as adults, we established the Washington Adult Congenital Heart (WACH) Program, a collaborative care partnership with MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Our program is 1 of only 40 Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA)-accredited programs in 25 states.