Advanced Fetal Cardiology

Course address

Dr. Olga Gómez / Dr. José Mª Martínez.

Aimed at

This course is aimed at fetal medicine specialists with an advanced level of echocardiography, or pediatric cardiologists with interest and/or practice in fetal medicine. The course is focused on the diagnosis and advanced orientation of these pathologies, which implies a mastery of 2D and Doppler fetal echocardiography techniques. However, it contemplates in depth essential aspects for an adequate practice of fetal cardiology, and therefore a relevant time is dedicated to discuss aspects of postnatal prognosis and different techniques of surgical correction. This provides the specialist with the necessary knowledge that allows him/her to adequately guide the complementary study and advice to parents, aspects as relevant as prognosis.

Course objectives

1. To understand and know how to use the methodology of the evaluation of the fetal cardiovascular system and its clinical significance.
2. To know and know how to apply new technologies and parameters for the study of fetal cardiac function.
3. To understand the use of echocardiography in the first trimester of gestation.
4. To learn about new technologies in the study of the fetal heart.
5. To present the prognostic estimation of the different heart diseases detected prenatally and the different therapeutic options for neonatal and early childhood.
6. To understand and know how to use the methodology of the evaluation of the fetal cardiovascular system and its clinical significance.
7. To know and know how to apply new technologies and parameters for the study of fetal cardiac function.
8. To understand the use of echocardiography in the first trimester of gestation.
9. To learn about new technologies in the study of the fetal heart.
10. To present the prognostic estimation of the different heart diseases detected prenatally and the different therapeutic options for neonatal and early childhood.

Methodology

1. Theoretical classes grouped by topics, always with practical cases interspersed throughout the presentation, following the methodology of "problem solving" in order for students to consolidate the concepts proposed in the objectives.
2. During these classes, images of real clinical cases diagnosed and treated in our center will be massively used and algorithms and protocols of action will be presented. Photos and videos of practically all heart diseases that can be diagnosed prenatally at this time are presented.
3. Final evaluation by means of an exam consisting of different real clinical cases presented with videos, with multiple-choice questions. A 70% of correct answers is required to pass the exam.

Faculty

The faculty is made up of medical staff from the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Service The faculty is made up of medical specialists from an interdisciplinary field with extensive experience in the field of perinatal infections, mostly from BCNatal and Hospital Clínic de Barcelona.

Evaluation

The exposition of the topics will be structured on the basis of problem solving through the essential theoretical content. The development of each topic will follow a clinical outline and will use images and videos. At the end of the visualization of the presentations, the student can obtain a certificate of completion of the theoretical training and pass the knowledge acquisition test. Once the knowledge has been acquired and in order to obtain the certificate, a multiple-choice test must be taken. For the validation test you have 3 attempts and must answer 70% of the answers correctly. Each time you enter the exam, even if you do not answer any question, it counts as an attempt.