Pediatric echocardiography lab earns accreditation

WVU Medicine’s pediatric echocardiography lab, a component of the WVU Medicine Children's, has been granted an additional three-year term of accreditation by Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) in pediatric echocardiography, including transthoracic echocardiography testing (TTE), transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), and fetal echocardiography (FTE).

IAC accreditation involves an intensive application and review process, which found the lab to be in compliance with published standards. The IAC accreditation process, comprised of a detailed self-evaluation followed by a thorough review by a panel of medical experts, enables both the critical operational and technical components of the applicant facility to be assessed, including representative case studies and their corresponding final reports.

Along with its procedures, the lab was evaluated for its personnel and supervision; facility; examination reports and records; safety; administration; and quality improvement measures.

Echocardiograms, which are noninvasive ultrasound studies, are commonly used to evaluate heart structure and function. Each year more than 35,000 infants in the United States are born with congenital heart defects, making it the most common type of birth defect. It is also the most critical, as congenital heart defects cause more deaths during the first year of life than any other birth defect.