Barbara Deal, MD Division Head, Cardiology

The Division of Cardiology is dedicated to providing excellent service in all aspects of patient care, from the initial diagnosis to the latest innovative cardiac procedures. The division provides in-depth clinical services for individuals (primarily children but also some adults) suspected of having congenital heart disease, including cardiac arrhythmias, patients with acquired heart disease, and those who have had heart or heart-and-lung transplants.

Some years ago at selected institutions, video conferencing was implemented as a way of allowing the pediatric cardiologists at Children's Memorial Hospital to diagnose infants at the nurseries of other off-site hospitals. The telemedicine technology permits the cardiologists to see the infant and the echocardiogram while it is being performed. Consequently, the diagnosis can be made without having the infant transferred to Children's Memorial nor is the child's diagnosis delayed by waiting for the cardiologist to arrive at the distant hospital. The service has been evaluated through the Children's Institutional Review Board and is now available seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

The area hospitals linked with Children's Memorial are Evanston, Highland Park, Northwest Community, Silver Cross, Central Dupage and Prentice Women's Hospital of Northwestern Memorial. As one of the few centers in the nation to provide this service, Children's Memorial continues to be an innovator in this field, providing consultations nationally and internationally.

Children's Memorial was one of the first centers in the US to participate in the implant of the Amplatzer atrial septal defect occlusion device under an FDA-approved trial. For eligible patients, this means that the heart defect can be closed in the catheterization laboratory without going to surgery. Because of its early participation in the use of the device, Children's is among the nation's centers that have the greatest experience with it.

The congenital pacemaker program at Children's is the largest in the state of Illinois, following patients from infancy through adulthood. The program is one of the few pediatric national programs that manages patients with complex heart arrhythmias.

If a child's condition is very complex and requires the consultation of a variety of subspecialists, Children's Memorial Hospital is the hospital of choice.