Pediatric Cardiology At USA Health
USA Health offers a care team with broad experience in treating pediatric heart conditions. Because of our team's proximity to other specialty clinics in the Strada Patient Care Center and by being part of an academic medical center, we also provide coordinated care between each patient's pediatrician, cardiologist and other subspecialists.
Our specialists see heart patients from birth up to 18 years. We even treat some patients before they’re born. In fact, USA Health has the state’s only accredited fetal echocardiography lab and one of Alabama’s two accredited pediatric echocardiography labs.
USA Health pediatric heart specialists use the latest techniques to identify and diagnose heart problems. Then, we work with families and other specialists, as needed, to develop an effective treatment plan, often using medication to address problems.
Pediatric Heart Problems We Treat
The most common heart defects that our pediatric cardiologists treat are:
- Ventricular septal defect–VSD is a hole in the wall that separates the two lower chambers, or ventricles, of the heart.
- Atrial septal defect–ASD is a hole in the wall that separates the two upper chambers, or atria, of the heart.
- Patent ductus arteriosus–PDA occurs when the fetal artery (ductus arteriosus) remains open, or patent, after birth. It should close once the baby is born so that blood from the heart can circulate through the lungs.
- Tetralogy of Fallot–TOF is caused by a combination of congenital heart defects that affect the structure of the child’s heart and results in oxygen-poor blood flowing from the heart to the rest of the body.
- Transposition of the great arteries–This congenital heart defect occurs when the two main arteries that flow from the heart are reversed or transposed. Also known as dextro-transposition of the great arteries, or d-TGA, it causes an inadequate flow of oxygen throughout the body.
- Fontan procedure follow-up–Children diagnosed with a single ventricle heart defect often undergo a series of staged reconstructive heart surgeries, the third of which is called the Fontan procedure. The child is closely monitored following this procedure.
Our pediatric cardiologists also see patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, Marfan syndrome and other disorders.
Prenatal Consultations
In addition to treating children, we provide prenatal consultations for expectant mothers whose babies are suspected to have heart defects.
