Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 17, 2016 (SKNIS): Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Patrick Martin has expressed pleasure with the training offered by Dr. Beverly Tsai Goodman at a two-day fetal and pediatric cardiography workshop held March 14 and 15.
The Chief Medical Officer said that the workshop will enable pediatricians and radiologists to use ultrasound technology to examine babies for heart defects.
“We have about 650 newborns in the Federation every year, and from time to time we come across a newborn who has a cardiac defect or birth defect,” Dr. Martin said. “Although we can hear with our stethoscope and probably feel with our fingers, it is important to get the latest technology on board and that is cardiac ultrasound … for us, since we don’t have a pediatric cardiologist, we don’t have that facility here. So the next best thing is to train pediatricians, radiologists, radiology technicians.”
Workshop facilitator Dr. Tsai Goodman revealed that the echo cardiogram can diagnose heart conditions in babies even before birth so that the child can be given the best interventions and management applicable to the condition.
“Once you’ve made the diagnosis, of an abnormality, obviously you may want to suggest other tests that you may want to undergo, because sometimes the heart condition may be associated with a genetic problem,” Dr. Tsai Goodman said, noting that the parents may be advised to undergo an amniocentesis which is a prenatal medical procedure used to diagnosis chromosomal abnormalities and fetal infections. “At the end of the day, the aim or the purpose of fetal cardiology is so you can make the diagnosis, improvement management and outcome, but also give parents choice. So by knowing what the baby has or what’s wrong with the baby’s heart, you can offer choices.”
Nine medical professionals from Barbados, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda as well as host country St. Kitts and Nevis, attended the training.
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