Friendship Cardiology Specialists
Friendship Cardiology Specialists will work with you to build a treatment and follow-up plan to meet the goals and needs of your patient. Services include:
- Echocardiography
- Thoracic Radiography
- Electrocardiography
- Fluoroscopy
- Holter Monitoring
- CT Angiography
- Implantable loop recorders
- Diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization
- Transvenous Pacemaker implantation
- ACDO Occlusion of Patent Ductus Arteriosus
- Balloon Valvuloplasty
- Pulmonary Valve Stent Angioplasty
- Additional interventional procedures on a case-by-case basis
Outpatient Murmur Clinic
As a service to our referring veterinarians, Friendship Hospital for Animals offers an outpatient murmur clinic. This clinic offers outpatient echocardiograms for just the cost of the echo, with no consultation fee. This means that the owners will not have the opportunity to discuss the findings with a cardiologist, but they will leave with a completed echo report that will also be provided to their referring veterinarian. These reports will include a diagnosis, as well as additional diagnostic, therapeutic, and monitoring recommendations. An anesthesia protocol will also be provided if appropriate.
Who is this clinic best suited for?
- Asymptomatic older dogs that need clearance for anesthesia prior to a COHAT procedure
- Asymptomatic cats with an incidentally elevated NT-ProBNP
- Routine murmur evaluations in adult animals
Who is this clinic NOT suited for?
- Symptomatic patients – those with coughing, difficulty breathing or fainting
- Those with a history of congestive heart failure or taking cardiac medications
- Those pets who do not have a family veterinarian comfortable discussing and managing cardiac disease based off of a paper report.
- Those clients who prefer a personal relationship and discussion with their pet’s cardiologist.
FYI
- Imaging may be performed by a cardiology trainee or sonographer under the supervision of a boarded cardiologist. All images will be interpreted by a boarded cardiologist.
- All patients require a referral from their family vet coordinating care who will also receive the report which includes diagnostic, therapeutic and monitoring recommendations (plus anesthesia if appropriate)
- We strongly recommend pre-visit pharmaceuticals as sedation cannot be provided without a valid exam (Examples: Trazodone, Gabapentin – No alpha agonists)
- It is very important to be on time for your echo slot, as we will be fitting in many patients per clinic
- No additional diagnostics (Blood pressure, ECG, thoracic radiographs, etc) can be completed during this clinic. If an urgent patient issue is identified, the owners will be informed and will be sent to the emergency room.
How to refer:
To discuss a case, contact us by phone at 202.567.2098 or email cardiology@friendshiphospital.com. Emergent cases can be referred through our urgent care/emergency service for transfer to cardiology. The attending doctor can contact the cardiologist for cases admitted after hours.
Friendship Cardiology Specialists see appointments Monday through Friday.
