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Cardiology

Cancer Patients with Heart Issues

Benefit from Advanced Imaging

Tech at Miami Cardiac & Vascular

Institute's Diagnostic Center

BY JOHN FERNANDEZ ure can be detected,
which is when the lower
Miami Cardiac & Vascular left chamber of the heart
Institute's Diag nostic Center (left ventricle) gets bigger
played has played a vital role (enlarges) and cannot
during the pandemic, using contract sufficiently to
the most advance cardiac pump the right amount of
imaging technology to pre- oxygen-rich blood to the
cisely diagnose and monitor rest of the body. Pediatric Specialists
heart conditions in cancer In cancer patients, gru-
patients. eling chemotherapy ses-
How do you diagnose can- sions can have an effect Now in Doral
cer-related cardiac condi- on the heart, especially in
tions? The team at the Dr. Socrates V. Kakoulides those with underlying
Diagnostic Center utilize health issues, such as The most advanced pediatric specialty care is now in the
advanced echocardiograms that measure hypertension, diabetes and atherosclero-
how your heart muscle contracts to sis (hardening of the arteries). heart of Doral, just across from CityPlace. KIDZ Medical, a
check your heart health. They use The so-called strain echocardiography multispecialty pediatric practice, can provide your child
echocardiograms to create 3D models of has functioned so well at the Institute's
your heart to see how well it pumps Diagnostic Center, that Baptist Health is with state-of-the-art medical care and you, the parent,
blood. looking to expand this imaging capabili- with peace of mind.
To say that running the Diagnostic ty to other diagnostic facilities through-
Center has been challenging since the out the system.
onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is an "The reason why we do these echo
understatement. Safety protocols to pro- studies on cancer patients is to make sure
tect patients and healthcare personnel that they don't suffer from cardiac dys-
have been in place from the beginning - function while getting chemotherapy,"
and throughout the pandemic's surges said Dr. Kakoulides. "And, obviously,
"We have our routine mix of cardio- there are medical therapies that can be
vascular patients that come from our car- used to intervene so that we can keep
diologists, and on top of that, there's our patients on their chemotherapy should
cancer patients, which are coming they develop heart dysfunction."
straight from the oncologists," explains Echocardiographic imaging is vital for
Socrates V. Kakoulides, M.D., a cardiolo- patient monitoring during what is
gist with Miami Cardiac & Vascular known medically as "cardiotoxic cancer
Institute and medical director of the therapy." Left ventricular ejection frac-
Institute’s Diagnostic Center, who has tion (LVEF) is the most commonly used Our Medical Staff in Doral:
training and expertise in echocardiogra- parameter for identifying left ventricular Abdulwahab Aldousany, MD - Pediatric Cardiology
phy and nuclear cardiology — advanced dysfunction. But LVEF may lack sensitiv-
tests utilized in the diagnosis, manage- ity needed to detect subtle changes in Aymin Delgado-Borrego, MD - Pediatric Gastroenterology
ment and follow-up of patients with cardiac function caused by early muscle Sheila Perez-Colon, MD - Pediatric Endocrinologist
heart disease. cell damage from cardiotoxic cancer
"Some of these patients are being treatment. Mariselis Rosa-Sanchez, MD - Pediatric Nephrology
referred from our physicians who are fol- Jorge L. Hernandez, a cardiac/vascular
lowing them clinically," he said. "And sonographer at the Institute, said there's If you would like to discuss your child’s care, please
then throughout the year, depending on a particular protocol for cardio-oncology contact Isabel Viera Gonzalez, Office Manager.
whether or not we're going through a patients.
surge here, we have patients who are "Strain echocardiography is particular
recovering from COVID or may have to patients with cardio-oncology issues
been exposed to COVID. And so how do because the strain is can pick up changes
we keep our patients safe while they're in in their left ventricular function, or left
our space. It's a challenge - but we are ventricular wall, motion that the blind K K
getting it done." eye can't see," explains Mr. Hernandez. I I Z Z
The advanced echocardiograms at the "So, we have state-of-the-art machines
Institute's Diagnostic Center deploy a that have strain echocardiography and
technique known as "strain imaging." In they allow us to provide a superior qual-
cardiac imaging, the diagnostic medical ity echocardiogram. It requires extra
sonographer can measure the rate of training for the technologists and certain
deformation of the ventricular wall in physicians that are trained in under- Medical
various dimensions, providing are more standing strain echocardiography. And
precise view of early myocardial (heart's that sets us above a lot of facilities that
muscular tissue) dysfunction. Heart fail- can't provide this service."
Providing care to infants, children
and moms since 1988
Visit us on the web at

www.southfloridahospitalnews.com 3785 NW 82nd Ave., Suite 307 „ Doral, FL 33166 „ 305-556-4263
www.southfloridahospitalnews.com

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