In this Section

Cardiac Testing Center Excellence

The Valley Children’s diagnostic heart center provides state-of-the-art noninvasive cardiac testing services for children and expectant mothers. With a goal of ensuring all patients with suspected or known congenital, cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary heart disease have access to effective, compassionate and innovative cardiac testing services, we provide:

  • Digital 3D/4D Echocardiography (Transthoracic, Transesophageal and Fetal)
  • Electrocardiography (ECG or EKG machine)
  • Holter and Multi-event EKG Monitoring
  • Pacemaker Analysis and Reprogramming

In 1997, Valley Children’s Cardiac Testing Center became the first accredited (ICAEL) pediatric echocardiography laboratory in the nation and continues to maintain these high-quality national standards. We remain one of the only facilities in California and the Western United States to be accredited in both pediatric and fetal echocardiography.

Valley Children's was also one of the first facilities accredited by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) in Echocardiography and in 2023 joined an elite group honored with the 25-year Silver Accreditation Milestone for demonstrating a continued commitment to offering quality patient care. The purpose of the IAC is to help cardiology facilities standardize their processes to provide better patient care and thus improved outcomes. Valley Children’s is the only hospital – adult and pediatric – in the state with a 25-year silver level accreditation of excellence for echocardiography. 
 

Advanced Pediatric EKG Test Capabilities with Advanced Imaging

The Willson Heart Center performs over 8,500 electrocardiograms annually and more than 10,000 echocardiograms (echos) per year, including more than 400 fetal echos. The Center has cardiac imaging units designed exclusively for pediatric echos and equipped with 3D/4D capabilities. One of the units is available at our Pelandale Specialty Care Center in Modesto.

Cardiac testing is part of The Willson Heart Center and serves inpatients and outpatients from all over Central California and beyond. We also provide noninvasive technical support for cardiology practices located in Merced, Modesto, Visalia, Bakersfield and Templeton, and we are an important part of the Valley Children’s Prenatal Diagnostic Center.
 

Multidisciplinary Services for Improved Outcomes

Our specialists at The Willson Heart Center work together with a multidisciplinary approach to care. Each of the following specialty care areas use our advanced imaging capabilities to monitor and improve outcomes:

  • Cardiothoracic Surgery: Echocardiograms are performed in the operating room to confirm that repairs are successful.
  • NICU: Evaluation of premature infants with cardiac conditions and guiding the critical care management of premature infant patients with cardiac conditions.
  • PICU: Guiding the critical care management of patients with cardiac conditions.

Pediatricians in the community can choose to utilize The Willson Heart Center’s cardiology testing services directly to determine if their patient has a cardiac condition. Please refer to our Pediatric Cardiology Referral Guidelines for more information.