Echocardiography is a test that uses sound waves to produce live images of your heart. This test allows your doctor to monitor how your heart and its valves are functioning. The images can help them get information about: blood clots in the heart chambers. At Siddhi, We have conduct echocardiography of adult, child as well as of fetus of pregnant mother. We have adult cardiologist as well as pediatric cardiologist for echo as well as cardiac consultation.
Pediatric cardiology services:
Pediatric cardiology services:
OPD: every Tuesday (9am to 1PM)
Echocardiography, pediatric: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Fetal Echo: Every Monday.
About 3% of all deliveries are born with a birth defect and nearly one percent of all newborn have a congenital heart defect (CHD). A congenital disease is a condition where baby is born some defect. Congenital heart disease is the commonest congenital anomaly which occurs in 9 out of every 1000 livebirths. In a research done in Dhulikhel hospital, 218 pediatric cardiac cases were studied, among which 144 cases (66.05%) were Congenital Heart Disease.(Joshi A). There is a study done in 34,876 school children from Kathmandu and Lalitpur, where CHD was found in 0.10% of total screened school children.(Prajapati D, 2013 ) Data regarding the status of CHD in Bhaktapur is lacking but it is still the most common birth defect. Data from our hospital is not concrete but CHD is the most encountered birth defects in our OPD.
Congenital Pediatric cardiac problems being the most common one, the set up and expertise is still limited in Nepal and no doubt, in Bhaktapur. This is the area where every responsible health institution should have efforts to bring forth needed services. Siddhi, being a not-for-profit, service oriented tertiary care center in Bhaktapur, has this responsibility to expand its services to pediatric cardiology also.
Until Dr. Dhruba Shrestha, MD, the head of department of pediatrics at Siddhi Memorial Hospital received training of Echocardiography from Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center (SGNHC), we had to refer every child needing an Echo evaluation to SGNHC. Many times, the grave condition of children does not permit them to be transported to Kathmandu. Gradually, echocardiographic evaluation became a routine procedure in Siddhi and the level of pediatric care rose to a new height. To strengthen the cardiology services further, SMH decided to send Dr. Ganendra Bhakta Raya for further training in pediatric cardiology. He has completed one-year fellowship in pediatric cardiology from Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kerala, India.
With the support of the NICU and PICU, a basic pediatric cardiology service has been started at Siddhi. Every Tuesday, children with heart diseases are examined in the pediatric cardiology OPD. In addition to lab tests, ECG, Chest X-ray and Echocardiography are performed on needed children. ECG and Chest X-ray services are available 24 hours a day. Echocardiography for patients from OPD is offered from Tuesday to Friday. Fetal echo is done on Monday.
Echocardiography (ECHO) is the ultrasound of the heart. With this tool, we can detect most of the structural anomaly of the heart, including the heart valves. Echo can also be done on a developing fetus; this is called fetal echo.
Photos of Dr. Ganendra and Dr. Dhruba performing Echo.
Most of the children with heart disease are managed with medications on out-patient basis. Those who need cardiac monitoring and supplemental oxygen therapy get admitted. Some cardiac patients need urgent surgical intervention. We coordinate with hospitals in Kathmandu and India for such patients.
Pediatric cardiology services:
OPD: every Tuesday (9am to 1PM)
Echocardiography, pediatric: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Fetal Echo: Every Monday.
