At Le Bonheur, your child may have images taken of his or her heart, or undergo testing in order to provide a diagnosis and plan for treatment. Common testing includes:
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET)
This test determines if exercise causes problems with your child’s heart, including its function and rhythm at rest and with activity. It also monitors lung function. Your child will exercise, and the heart will be monitored for changes.
Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR)
Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) creates both still and moving pictures of your child’s heart and major blood vessels. CMR images of a beating heart allows our heart team to analyze your child’s heart structure and how it functions. Inflammation, scar formation and heart swelling can also be identified in CMR. Using these images our cardiothoracic surgeons can better plan for your child’s heart surgery for the best outcome possible.
Echocardiography (echo)
An echo is an ultrasound that views the structure, size and blood flow through the heart. Types include:
- Transthoracic echocardiography, a common outpatient procedure where specialists’ place gel on the chest and then glide a transducer (camera) on the chest to capture images of the heart. This is an outpatient or inpatient procedure.
- Transesophageal echocardiography, a cath lab procedure where specialists place a camera down your child’s throat to get a view of the heart. Intracardiac echocardiography, a cath lab procedure where your child is sedated by anesthesiologists and the cardiologist places a very small catheter (camera) directly into the heart. It shows images of the heart while cardiologists are working within the heart. Fetal echocardiography, an ultrasound image of the heart of an unborn child. Typically, your obstetrician will make a referral if he or she has questions or suspicions that your baby has an abnormal heart. The Fetal Cardiology Center at Le Bonheur offers fetal echos as early as the first trimester.
- Le Bonheur employs two of the three registered fetal echocardiographers in the region. Our lab is accredited by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC).
Electrocardiography (EKG or ECG)
This test gives a tracing of the electrical conduction of the heart. Types include:
- Electrocardiography (EKG or ECG) displays how the heart beats. Technicians place electrodes (stickers) across the chest and on each arm and leg to measure the beats of the heart. The test takes approximately 10 minutes.
- Holter monitor records 24 or 48 hours of continuous heart beats to look for any irregularities. Children are able to take the holter home.
- Event recorder is a long-term monitoring device, similar to a holter. The device works by activating the monitor to record the heart beat when certain events are felt.
Angiogram
Our cardiologists perform angiograms in the cath lab to see the structure and function of the heart and arteries surrounding the heart. They inject dyes into the arteries and take X-rays of the images to diagnose heart defects or the best plan for therapeutic procedures.
For more information, contact us at cardiac@lebonheur.org or 1-866-870-5570.
Meet Our Cardiac Diagnostic Procedures Team
Electrophysiology
Dr. Guerrier is director of the Cardiac Electrophysiology (EP) Program and also directs the cardiac rhythm device management, pacemakers and automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) at Le Bonheur. She also is an interventional electrophysiologist with advanced training in this subspecialty. She completed her training in pediatric cardiology and pediatric electrophysiology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Guerrier is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics with a cardiology subspecialty. She is an associate professor with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Cardiac MRI
Dr. Johnson is the chief of Cardiology in the Heart Institute at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He is the St. Jude Endowed Chair of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Research. . He is a professor with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dr. Johnson is also the director of the cMRI program at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. His research and clinical areas of focus are non-invasive imaging including advanced echocardiography, procedural echocardiographic support, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI). Dr. Johnson is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics with a cardiology subspecialty.
Dr. Merlocco is a pediatric cardiologist with expertise in pediatric cardiac imaging and special training in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI). He completed his Pediatric Cardiology fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital at Harvard Medical School and his advanced Cardiac Imaging and cMRI fellowship subspecialty training at Children's National Medical Center at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics with a cardiology subspecialty. Dr. Merlocco is also an associate professor with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in the Heart Institute at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital.
Dr. Naik is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics with a cardiology subspecialty, is the director of the fetal cardiology program and is an associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dr. Naik completed his Pediatric Cardiology fellowship at the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital and his Advanced Imaging in Cardiac MRI (cMRI) in the Heart Institute at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. He specializes in non-invasive imaging including cMRI, fetal echocardiography, advanced echocardiography and stress echocardiography. Dr. Naik is a member of the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, Fetal Heart Society, American Society of Echocardiography and the American College of Cardiology.
Fetal Cardiac Imaging
Dr. Naik is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics with a cardiology subspecialty, is the director of the fetal cardiology program and is an associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dr. Naik completed his Pediatric Cardiology fellowship at the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital and his Advanced Imaging in Cardiac MRI (cMRI) in the Heart Institute at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. He specializes in non-invasive imaging including cMRI, fetal echocardiography, advanced echocardiography and stress echocardiography. Dr. Naik is a member of the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, Fetal Heart Society, American Society of Echocardiography and the American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Joshi is medical director of Noninvasive Cardiology in the Heart Institute at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and a professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics with a cardiology subspecialty and specializes in fetal cardiac imaging, echocardiography and sports-related cardiology.
Dr. Swaminathan is an associate professor with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She is a member of the Heart Institute at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital with expertise in general pediatric cardiology and non-invasive imaging and specializes in fetal echocardiography. Dr. Swaminathan is the associate program director of the Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship for the Heart Institute at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics with a cardiology subspecialty. Prior to joining the Heart Institute faculty, Dr. Swaminathan completed her Pediatric Cardiology fellowship at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, Columbia University Medical Center in New York. She is member of the American Society of Echocardiography, Fetal Heart Society, American Academy of Pediatrics and Association of Pediatric Program Directors.
