More often than not, a child complaining of chest pain doesn’t suggest a serious problem. Children, young ones especially, aren’t very reliable when it comes to describing their own pain. “Most of the time, chest pain in children is not caused by a heart problem,” said Brian J. Holland, M.D., a pediatric cardiologist with Norton…
Eleanor Westenhofer, an 8-year-old heart transplant patient, led a delegation to Washington. Eleanor, along with a team from Norton Children’s Hospital, met with lawmakers to make sure they keep sick kids in mind as they work on health care legislation. She took part in Speak Now for Kids 2019 Family Advocacy Day. Eleanor shared this about…
Anytime a child or teenager faints, “passes out” or loses consciousness, family members — as well as the child or teen — often worry there might be something terribly wrong. The good news is that fainting or syncope (pronounced sin-koh-pee) in most older children and teenagers who are otherwise healthy does not automatically mean that…
How does your heart beat? Your heart beats because of the actions of a highly specialized electrical system. It listens in to what’s going on with you at the time and triggers the muscular walls of the heart to contract in an organized fashion and at the right heart rate, either slow or fast, and…
Bahaaldin Alsoufi, M.D., says that the road to becoming a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon is a long one. He started his journey at 16, when he first vowed to become a heart surgeon. After earning his medical degree in Syria, he spent 24 years training and building his career at universities and hospitals in the United…
Normal heartbeats can be slow when an individual is resting or asleep, fast when running, excited or upset, and somewhere in between at other times. Even at rest, young children have faster heartbeats than older children, who have faster heartbeats than teenagers or adults. The variability in heart beats is due to the heart’s electrical…
Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) isn’t life-threatening for otherwise healthy children if they receive proper care. Infants and children with various types of other heart disease are most at risk of fast heartbeats due to SVT. SVT treatment includes short-term methods to stop the episode, and long-term treatment to prevent future spells. “Home remedies” for SVT There…
Elizabeth and Andrew Byler were devastated when their first child, Emily, was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. A few years later, they were shocked to discover their second child, Ethan, also had a heart defect and would require a transplant. But sometimes there are three sides to every story. In February 2017 their third…
An electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) is a painless test used to record the heart’s electrical activity and possibly reveal issues with the heart’s rhythm, such as an arrhythmia or other signs of underlying heart trouble. The EKG test involves placing small electrode patches on the skin. Wires from the electrodes run to the EKG machine….
One of the rarest and most complicated heart defects found in babies is hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) in which a critical underdevelopment of the left side of the heart leaves the right side doing most of the work. “With hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the left side of the heart can’t effectively pump blood to…
Surviving everything Stella Paul has been through in her one year of life is nothing short of a miracle. But her biggest miracle came on July 23, 2018, when a family made the difficult decision to donate their child’s heart. Norton Children’s Heart Institute Learn more about Norton Children’s Heart Institute or schedule an appointment….
Two-year-old Gift Mbwali and her mother traveled more than 7,600 miles from their home in Uganda to Norton Children’s Heart Institute where surgeons repaired a heart defect she has lived with since birth. Her family was well aware of the high stakes. Her older brother, Patrick, made the same journey in 2017 to have a…