Contact: Ellen Bank
843.792.2626
Oct. 15, 2001
CHARLESTON, SC -- The Pediatric Echocardiography Laboratory at the Medical University of South Carolina is one of only six pediatric laboratories in the country that has been granted full accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories.
Participation in the accreditation process is voluntary, according to Girish Shirali, M.D., director of the laboratory. Accreditation status signifies that the facility has been reviewed by an independent agency which recognizes the laboratory's commitment to quality testing for the diagnosis of heart disease. Full accreditation means that the facility is accredited for transthoracic, transesophageal and fetal echocardiography.
The laboratory performs 4,000 echocardiograms a year and is staffed by four registered pediatric sonographers. One of whom, Skip Kline, is one of four pediatric sonographers nationwide designated as an advanced practice sonographer by the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography.
Cardiac structure and flow information provided by echocardiographic testing is useful in the detection and management of many types of heart disease. This noninvasive test has become one of the standard diagnostic tools in cardiology with an estimated 10 million echocardiograms performed annually in the United States. Echocardiography is a complex imaging technique that relies on the experience and training of both the physician and sonographer. Their interpretive and technical abilities determine the diagnostic accuracy of an echocardiographic examination.
The other fully accredited pediatric labs in the United States are Texas Children's Hospital, Houston; Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, Loma Linda, Cal.; Duke University, Durham, N.C.; Medical College of Virginia, Richmond; and the University of Kentucky, Lexington.
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