Heart diseases in children have increased significantly over the past ten years, which is associated both with a real increase in number of such pathologies and with more effective diagnostics. Approximately 12-15 children out of thousand are born with congenital defects of heart and large vessels of varying complexity degrees, some of which are completely incompatible with life. But thanks to current development level of medicine in Israel, such children have a real chance not only for survival, but also for a happy, healthy childhood, a high-quality and fulfilling adult life of average duration.

Every year, thousands of children with congenital and acquired diseases of cardiovascular system receive all the necessary care at Tel Aviv Medical Clinic Pediatric Cardiology Department. In approximately 95% of cases, TAMC specialists manage to achieve either a complete cure for children with pathologies of cardiovascular system, or condition and improvement stabilization of life quality of patients with chronic forms of diseases.

The earlier heart disease is diagnosed and specific treatment is started, the better prognosis for child in future. Baby receives its first examinations of cardiovascular system in utero, because all prenatal diagnostic protocols include visualization of fetal heart. Unfortunately, with the help of standard ultrasound during pregnancy, only gross defects in child’s heart development a can be detected; more than 60% remain unnoticed until baby’s birth.

The main treatment advantages in Pediatric Cardiology Department of TAMC:

Preference for performing minimally invasive types of therapeutic and diagnostic procedures in children instead of open surgeries.
Our interventional cardiologists successfully practice modern techniques for examining heart cavities or surgery to replace heart valves through catheterization, rather than chest opening with open access to heart.
Active introduction into practice and widespread application of modern and innovative technologies for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. For example, installation of the world’s smallest pacemaker Micra, arrhythmias ablation (RFA) using the innovative CARTO navigation system.

Help from a multidisciplinary team. If the necessaty arises, cardiologist involves related specialists in diagnostic and treatment process – cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists, endocrinologists, pulmonologists, thoracic surgeons. Thanks to such coordinated work of a professional team, patient can receive all the necessary care within the walls of one medical institution.

Doctor examining a child patient by stethoscope. Cute baby girl at physician appointment. Medicine concept.

Departments

On the basis of Pediatric Cardiology Department of TAMC, several divisions operate at once, which makes it possible to improve the quality of medical services, since each doctor is a specialist in his field, knows all intricacies and nuances of managing a certain category of patients.

General pediatric cardiology – specialists in this profile are the first who contact with patient and his parents, conduct an examination and develop an examination plan, prescribe the necessary treatment, if this is within their competence, or refer to another specialized doctor.
Interventional cardiology – cardiologists in this area specialize in performing minimally invasive percutaneous (interventional) diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
Clinic of congenital heart defects in children – specialists of this unit provide conservative treatment of children with such pathologies, their preparation for surgery, rehabilitation after it, as well as supportive drug therapy.
Cardiac surgery – doctors in this field perform surgical interventions on heart and large vessels, both in case of common and very rare pathologies, and also perform heart transplantation.
Arrhythmology – arrhythmologists are involved in diagnostics of cardiac arrhythmias, as well as their treatment (medical and surgical).
Cardiac intensive care unit is an intensive care unit for patients with acute heart diseases, as well as after heart surgery.
Heart failure clinic – cardiologists in this sphere treat patients diagnosed with chronic heart failure.
Rehabilitation department – here all the necessary rehabilitation treatment complexes are carried out for patients after heart surgery or after acute heart damage, for example, after myocarditis, etc.
Diagnostics Department is a modern diagnostic unit that has all the necessary methods for diagnosing the state of cardiovascular system (ECG, Holter-ECG, MRI, coronary angiography, heart ultrasound, myocardial scintigraphy, stress functional tests, etc.).

Regardless of what diagnosis a child has, TAMC specialists will always provide the entire necessary range of medical care, from primary diagnosis to specific comprehensive treatment and an individual rehabilitation program.

What diseases does Pediatric Cardiology Department treat?

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Diagnostic methods in pediatric cardiology

The diagnostic stage begins immediately at the first consultation with a cardiologist. Specialist will systematize complaints, collect an anamnesis of child’s life and illness, and study all medical documents that you bring with you. Next, cardiologist, depending on characteristics of clinical case and child’s age, will prescribe a plan for further examination.

Diagnostic methods in pediatric cardiology:

Laboratory tests of blood, urine – general, biochemical, markers of heart failure, markers of infectious lesions, other tests that are necessary to verify the diagnosis and cause of the disease.
Molecular genetic studies to determine the hereditary type of cardiovascular pathology.
ECG and Holter ECG monitoring are very important basic techniques for examining cardiac patients of different ages. The examination reveals cardiac arrhythmias, conduction disturbances, blockades, and other features of heart electrical activity.
Echocardiography (Echo-CS or heart ultrasound) is a very important, easy-to-perform, safe and painless examination of heart and large vessels condition. TAMC uses only modern ultrasound machines, which allow even ultrasound of fetal heart to be performed with high accuracy.
Measuring blood pressure, 24-hour blood pressure monitoring is necessary for diagnosing arterial hypertension in children.
MRI of heart is a modern non-invasive diagnostic method that allows us to accurately determine the nature of pathological changes in myocardium.
Functional exertion tests are used only in older children (treadmill test, step test, bicycle ergometry).
Electrophysiological study of heart and programmed cardiac stimulation – allows arrhythmologists to determine the type of arrhythmia and accurately localize its source, which can subsequently be eliminated using catheter radiofrequency ablation (RFA).
Coronary angiography is a medical imaging technique of coronary arteries. The study is minimally invasive and is performed through percutaneous intervention in a radio operating room.
Myocardial scintigraphy – allows гі to verify myocardial diseases and study its function.
Multislice CT coronary angiography (MSCT) is a modern non-invasive study of coronary arteries condition. Suitable for patients who are contraindicated for standard coronary angiography, for example, due to an allergy to contrast agent or necessaty to reduce radiation exposure (young children).

At the final stage of diagnosis, a council of cardiologists examines all the results of additional examination and denelops a treatment plan. Specialists discuss with parents all possible treatment options, their advantages and disadvantages. The entire diagnostic process lasts no more than 1-3 days, depending on the number of diagnostic tests required and their complexity.

Important!

On the basis of Pediatric Cardiology Department of TAMC, there is a modern diagnostic unit, which is equipped with innovative expert-class medical equipment.

Therefore, patient can undergo all the necessary tests in one place, while diagnostics will be effective, accurate and safe.

Modern treatment methods in pediatric cardiology

In Pediatric Cardiology Department of TAMC, every child can receive all the necessary treatment methods, both conservative and surgical, including modern minimally invasive ones. Thanks to an individual approach, application of only modern global treatment protocols, and highly qualified cardiologists, treatment of cardiac pathology in children is as effective as possible.

Prenatal cardiology is a special sphere of activity of Pediatric Cardiology Department. Thanks to scrupulous training of specialists and the application only the best ultrasound equipment for diagnostics, it is possible to detect congenital pathology of heart or large vessels in a child even before birth. Sometimes specialists in the field of fetal surgery may perform surgery to correct a defect discovered during pregnancy. Such interventions are possible from 22-23 weeks of pregnancy. They help to significantly improve child’s prognosis after birth and often even avoid the necessaty for a heart transplantation in the first years after baby’s birth.

Most often, fetal cardiac surgery is used for:

Hypoplasia (underdevelopment) of left heart, which is often combined with hypoplasia of mitral or aortic valve, underdevelopment of aorta itself.
With the development of complete transverse blockade of cardiac conduction system.

Technically, these are very complicated surgries that are performed only in a few clinics in the world. Fetal heart surgery involves a complete opening of uterus, catheter manipulation of delicate anatomical structures of child’s heart, the subsequent return of fetus to uterus and carrying the pregnancy to term for childbirth.

Balloon valvuloplasty of the pulmonary valve is a minimally invasive intervention that is performed for one of the most common heart defects in children – pulmonary stenosis. Correction of this condition in TAMC is most often carried out by endovascular percutaneous access – without extensive incisions, using catheterization of peripheral vessel. Catheter is inserted through femoral artery, and a special balloon is placed in a folded state at the site of narrowing of pulmonary artery. After which specialist inflates the balloon and eliminates narrowing, thereby restoring normal blood flow in heart and lungs.

Minimally invasive interventions for cardiac valve malformations and atrial and ventricular septal defects. These are modern catheter interventions in which, without chest cavity opening, surgeon eliminates all necessary defects, for example, installs a patch for an ASD or VSD, corrects mitral or aortic stenosis (installs artificial valves).

Advantages of minimally invasive cardiac interventions in TAMC:

the number of all postoperative complications is significantly lower;
short rehabilitation period;
no pronounced pain syndrome;
there is no large scar after surgery;
short hospitalization period.

Treatment of arrhythmias using radiofrequency ablation is also performed through minimally invasive access using cardiac catheterization. A cardiac surgeon-arrhythmologist places an electrode to required part of myocardium, with the help of which area of automatism is destroyed and arrhythmia disappears forever.

If necessary, children may have pacemakers installed. TAMC specialists implant only high-quality devices from leading manufacturers into children. For children, the smallest size of device is specially selected; the charge of pacemaker is enough for 5-7 years of operation. Also, specialists from Cardiology Department can install defibrillators and cardiac synchronizers.

This is only a small part of modern treatment procedures that are available for children with pathologies of cardiovascular system in Pediatric Cardiology Department of TAMC. If your child needs professional help from the best cardiologists, contact us. Employees of medical tourism department will help to organize all the necessary diagnostics and comprehensive treatment.