Texas Children's Hospital & NASA - A Hearty Combination

Partnership designs out-of-this-world echocardiography lab

When the Heart Center at Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, wanted to design the best echocardiogram reading room on planet Earth, it formed a partnership with NASA. "We are pleased to have participated in the design of the new lab," said George W.S. Abbey, director of the Johnson Space Center. "One of NASA's jobs is to make space technology available to improve life on Earth. We are delighted to see this technology being used to help young patients get well."

What is an echo? An echocardiogram is a sophisticated diagnostic test that employs ultrasound to obtain moving and still pictures of the heart valves and heart muscle. The echo machine sends sound waves to a transducer that is placed on the chest. The sound waves are reflected by the heart walls and heart valves and back to the transducer, which changes the sound into a picture. An echo provides information about heart chamber size, wall motion, valve movements, and structural changes in and around the heart.

An echocardiogram is a non-invasive test that uses ultrasound to examine the structure and functioning of the heart for abnormalities and disease. Last year, Texas Children's read 10,000 echoes, some coming from various departments of the hospital and some from other hospitals in the region.

Often called "mission control" by its staff, the Texas Children's Heart Center reading room is quiet, dark and intense. Walls are lined with television monitors -- just like NASA's mission control -- but instead of flight paths, screen images are children's beating hearts. In the near future, technological advancements including fiber optics will have a major influence on the echo reading process. Aware of the rapidly changing technology, architects designing the 1.2-million-square-foot expansion asked the Heart Center staff to name existing facilities they admired. "High on our list was NASA mission control," said Dr. J. Timothy Bricker, chief of cardiology. "We have to respond to a lot of information quickly, with no technical errors, just like they do."

The chemistry between NASA and Texas Children's was immediate and productive. "When you put creative, intelligent people together, sparks just fly," said Bricker. "We enjoyed getting their input, and you could see them tucking away things we do that might be of benefit to NASA. Their input was valuable as we looked at designing the lab of the future."

The result of the alliance is a state-of-the-art facility that allows for integrated training and operation, expandability, operating cost reduction and better patient diagnosis and care. One of the main innovations is the mission control desk, which is based on its counterpart in NASA's emergency preparedness center. And, the new clinic's waiting rooms will be stocked with space-related toys. --FR

For more information:

Circle 673 - Texas Children's Hospital or connect directly to
their website at http://www.1rs.com/007df-673