TRUE DISCOVERY AWAITS It takes a certain mind to go in search of true discovery. In nuclear medicine, they are the clinical researchers looking to set new standards of care, the practitioners working to deliver better outcomes for the patients they see every day and the cardiologists seeking a better understanding of the heart. While they all have the same goal, their needs are different and cant all be met with one system or technology. Nuclear medicine is an excellent choice for physicians at the forefront of medicine. It has a wide range of available radioisotopes with various energy emission levels and longer half-lives. It also has the flexibility to explore multiple pathways in a single session. These are some of the reasons why we made a commitment to realizing the full potential of and growing this modality. This commitment involves making nuclear medicine technology more accessible and enabling it to provide results that are more valuable to referring physicians. It means driving down daily operational costs and innovating in four key areas: image quality, dose reduction, exam speeds and quantitative applications. All with the end result of enabling better clinical and economic outcomes. It also includes our vision for … Continue reading →

The Childrens Heart Program is committed to providing comprehensive cardiac care for children, from fetal life into adulthood, with congenital heart disease, and for children with acquired heart disease. Our mission is to expand our services to meet the diverse needs of those in the state of Maryland, so that no one needs to leave the state to seek heart care. A wide spectrum of cardiology subspecialties and services are offered here at the University of Maryland Childrens Hospital including: The program offers cardiac evaluations using the most advanced technology to diagnose and treat structural and functional cardiac abnormalities. In October 2010, the Childrens Heart Program opened the Pediatric Hybrid Cardiac Catheterization Suite. This state-of-the-art suite is the first of its kind in the mid-Atlantic region. The hybrid suite serves as both a fully dedicated pediatric cardiac catheterization laboratory and surgical suite. Cardiac catheterization is a diagnostic test that seeks to acquire additional information about the structure and function of a persons heart. Some cardiac catheterization procedures also allow the interventional cardiologist to improve or even fix an underlying heart defect. Procedures include: State-of-the-art cardiac MRI technology is available to non-invasively diagnose even the most complex forms of congenital heart … Continue reading →

Although cerebral palsy (CP) has no known cure yet, there are amyriad of treatments that have been proven successful in helping those with CP live more productively. If youre the parent of a child or infant with CP, its important to understand what treatment options are available in order to determine what will work best for you. CP is a wide-spectrum disorder, ranging from mild to severe, and treatment will depend upon your childs individual circumstances. According to the American Physical Therapy Association, getting a child with CP involved in physical therapy is one of the most important things you can do for treatment of the disorder. Physical therapy involves rehabilitating the childs physical disabilities through a series of muscle training. Since each childs situation is unique, a professional physical therapist will typically perform an assessment, and based upon its findings, individualized physical therapy plans will follow. Common exercises included in physical therapy sessions include: In some instances, children with CP will have swimming therapy during their physical therapy sessions. These sessions are done with careful assistance and caution, but are extremely important as it allows children to utilize muscle groups and do therapeutic exercises they otherwise arent able to … Continue reading →