Children’s cardiology

Paediatric cardiology concerns the treatment of heart conditions in children, including prenatal care.

Our paediatric cardiology service provides care to infants, children and young adults. We care for thousands of patients each year and have one of the largest cardiac surgical programmes for children in the country.

Our cardiology and cardiac surgery consultants work in multidisciplinary teams to provide access to the full breadth of clinical services ensuring high quality expertise and specialist care.

World-leading heart expertise

Patients come from around the globe to be treated by our world-leading children’s heart service. Our cardiac and cardiology service at Evelina London has a long history of innovation and world-firsts.

We offer life-changing care for patients from birth through early childhood, adolescence and into adulthood, providing expert diagnosis and specialist treatment for children and young people with complex heart disease.

Our expert paediatric cardiologists diagnose and treat a range of children’s heart problems, including congenital heart disease (which is present from birth), acquired heart disease (which develops after birth), and heart rhythm disturbances.

Fetal cardiology

Our fetal cardiology service at Evelina London has an international reputation for diagnosing and managing heart problems in babies before birth and is one of the largest fetal cardiology units in Europe. We are recognised for our pioneering work in developing new interventional techniques and advanced imaging.

Our team of experts bring together specialists in fetal imaging, fetal medicine, obstetrics and cardiac surgery  and work together to provide detailed information to make plans for you and your baby during pregnancy, delivery and provide support for the whole family

What is fetal cardiology?

Fetal cardiology identifies heart problems such as congenital heart defects before birth, ensuring that your baby gets the right treatment as early as possible. Paediatric cardiologists use advanced technology for diagnosis and can help you plan for your pregnancy and delivery.

Based at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, our fetal cardiologists specialise in diagnosing and managing heart problems in babies, before and after birth. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, our consultants are leaders in their field, dedicated to achieving optimal outcomes for you and your child.

Every year, in our fetal cardiology service we:

• evaluate over 6,000 pregnancies and assess about 2,000 high risk pregnancies
• diagnose over 300 babies with cardiac conditions before birth
• deliver over 150 babies on site so that the right care is immediately available

Evelina London is co-located at St Thomas’ which means we can provide care for mother and baby at one site and access to specialist treatments including cardiac surgery or catheter intervention. This avoids separation of mother and baby with treatment all under one roof.

Fetal imaging allows us to provide accurate prenatal diagnosis and create personalised care plans for you and your baby. Every year, our expert team diagnoses around 200 major heart abnormalities before birth and detects problems relating to heart formation, rhythm and function.

Fetal cardiology services

Our fetal cardiology service provides expert care for you and your child. Our highly acclaimed clinicians offer advanced treatments in state-of-the-art cardiology facilities. Our services include:

• fetal imaging
• fetal cardiac intervention
• maternity care
• fetal medicine services
• congenital heart disease treatment.

Fetal imaging

Fetal imaging produces pictures of the fetus in your uterus (womb), allowing your pregnancy to be monitored and the growth and development of your baby to be evaluated. This allows our cardiologists to identify potential issues with your pregnancy.

Evelina London has pioneered the most advanced imaging technologies to safely see babies’ hearts to allow for early diagnosis before birth and detailed assessment of cardiac abnormalities and plan treatments from catheter interventions to surgery. Our experts provide:

• early fetal heart scans from 12-13 weeks to provide early diagnosis for expectant parents
• 3D fetal cardiac MRI scans before birth in selected cases to improve diagnostic accuracy
• fetal cardiac intervention in highly selected cases.

Find out how our experts have developed an innovative new method using MRI to produce detailed 3D images of the fetal heart to diagnose heart problems in babies before birth.

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Our history of innovation

• UK’s first and largest fetal cardiology service.
• UK’s first fetal cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) service.
• UK’s first 3D echocardiogram service.
• World’s first MRI-guided cardiac catheter.
• World’s first fetal cardiac intervention.
• World’s first MRI-guided children’s heart valve procedure.

We continue to research cutting-edge applications including artificial intelligence and virtual reality imaging to improve patient care.