Inova Children’s Heart Center’s electrophysiology program provides a full range of diagnostic and treatment options for children and teens with known or suspected heart rhythm problems. Our center has one of the largest pediatric and adult congenital electrophysiology programs in the mid-Atlantic region, handling more than 250 cases each year with a 97% success rate for ablation procedures.
Inova's comprehensive pediatric electrophysiology services include:
Fetal arrhythmia monitoring
Our electrophysiology team works closely with Inova’s obstetricians, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, cardiologists, and neonatologists to monitor fetuses with arrhythmias (heart rhythm problems) like
supraventricular tachycardia and
ventricular tachycardia. In collaboration with Inova Schar Heart and Vascular’s
Cardiovascular Genetics Program, we can now detect hereditary arrhythmias, such as long QT syndrome, in utero and provide timely treatment.
Pacemakers and defibrillators
Inova Children’s Heart Center’s electrophysiology program follows more than 400 children and young adults who have loop recorders, pacemakers, or defibrillators. We monitor them through a combination of in-office visits and convenient home-based monitoring. Transvenous pacemakers and defibrillators are implanted in our new cardiac catheterization lab, and children recover overnight in our acute care cardiac unit.
Working together, our pediatric and adult electrophysiologists have successfully performed very complex cardiac resynchronization therapies, including conduction system pacing, in our adult congenital heart disease patients with significant heart failure. This often helps patients avoid needing a heart transplant and can greatly improve their heart function.
Ablation
We use the latest technology, like radiofrequency energy, cryoablation, and irrigated radiofrequency, to treat supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias. All ablation procedures are done in our newly renovated biplane electrophysiology lab. 3D mapping helps us find arrhythmias with very little (sometimes no) exposure to fluoroscopy.
Advanced automation, flexible impedance fields, and precise magnetic fields also help make the procedures faster. In 2023, we had a 97% success rate for children with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and all types of supraventricular arrhythmias. Many children who used to need antiarrhythmic medication and had activity limits can now safely join in all activities without any medication.
Genetic heart disease
Inova Children’s Heart Center is well-equipped to evaluate and treat families with genetic heart disease. Our multidisciplinary team includes both adult and pediatric cardiologists and dedicated pediatric genetic counselors. We follow children, parents, siblings, and extended family members with inherited life-threatening and rare arrhythmias, as well as cardiomyopathies. This joint program, which connects the pediatric and adult heart centers at Inova, provides care for families across generations.
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) prevention program
We promote community awareness to help identify children at risk of sudden life-threatening events. We have hosted seminars to educate pediatricians, family practitioners, and other providers about the risk factors and early warning signs of sudden cardiac death. Additionally, we are working to establish mandatory CPR training for all high school students in Northern Virginia.
Research
The electrophysiology program is active in several national multicenter studies focused on hereditary arrhythmias and long-term follow-up of arrhythmias in adults with congenital heart disease. The electrophysiology team collectively has more than 150 publications and presents at five to ten conferences each year.
Meet our team
Mitchell Cohen, MD
Rob Przybylski, MD
Carolyn Burke, NP