Heart Disease Diagnostic Methods

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If you or your pediatrician suspects your child has a heart condition, you want to understand it quickly and get started on a treatment path that will improve your child’s health.

The board-certified and fellowship-trained physicians at Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, are skilled at pinpointing the diagnosis — sometimes before your baby is born.

Their experience, paired with state-of-the-art technology in locations around Kentucky and Southern Indiana, mean you can get an accurate diagnosis and follow-up care without having to travel too far from home.

Norton Children’s Heart Institute Diagnostic Tools

The specialists at Norton Children’s Heart Institute use specialized ultrasound equipment to examine your baby’s heart while you’re pregnant. We conduct fetal echocardiograms at six sites within the cities of Ashland, Lexington, Louisville, Owensboro and Paducah, Kentucky — to examine the structure of your baby’s heart.

If your child is showing symptoms of heart trouble after birth, we offer echocardiogram tests at 28 sites in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. The test results are transmitted to the pediatric cardiologists at Norton Children’s Heart Institute in Louisville for immediate evaluation.

Depending on the location, staff at our tele-echocardiogram locations can conduct fetal echocardiograms, pediatric transthoracic echocardiograms and other tests.

If your child needs ongoing care, our cardiologists are available at Norton Children’s Heart Institute locations in Louisville, as well as our 15 outreach clinics, including four Norton Children’s Hospital Outpatient Centers located in Bowling Green, Frankfort, Owensboro and Paducah, Kentucky.

Norton Children’s Heart Institute has a complete range of equipment designed specifically for pediatric patients. The result is a precise diagnosis and thorough plan for treating your child.

The specialists at Norton Children’s Heart Institute are prepared to diagnose a full range of heart diseases with the following pediatric technology:

Why Choose Norton Children’s Heart Institute

  • Norton Children’s Hospital has been a pioneer in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, performing Kentucky’s first pediatric heart transplant in 1986 and becoming the second site in the United States to perform an infant heart transplant.
  • The American Board of Thoracic Surgery has certified our cardiothoracic surgeons in congenital heart surgery.
  • The Adult Congenital Heart Association has accredited Norton Children’s Heart Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program as the only comprehensive care center in Kentucky and Indiana treating adults born with a heart defect.
  • More than 17,000 children a year visit Norton Children’s Heart Institute for advanced heart care.
  • Norton Children’s Heart Institute has offices across Kentucky and Southern Indiana to bring quality pediatric heart care closer to home.
  • The Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Norton Children’s Hospital is the largest dedicated CICU in Kentucky, equipped with 17 private rooms and the newest technology available for heart care.

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