Saving Lives with 5 Essential Views

Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital heart disease is a leading cause of birth defect-associated infant illness and death. Every 14 minutes in the US, a child with congenital heart disease is born. These infants can receive the critical, life-saving care they need immediately after birth if they are detected prenatally. Unfortunately, the majority of congenital heart defects are missed on routine prenatal ultrasound exams, resulting in delayed detection and treatment. Low detection rates have persisted despite nearly universal access to prenatal sonography and marvelous advances in imaging technology. Improving detection of cardiac defects has become an urgent priority for the prenatal diagnosis community. Tiny Hearts Project was founded to answer this call.

Vision

We envision a future when all sonographers performing fetal imaging are proficient in standardized cardiac screening, all infants with significant congenital heart disease are recognized during pregnancy, and these vulnerable infants, their mothers and families receive the best possible care at just the right time.

Mission

Our Mission is to increase the prenatal detection rate of congenital heart disease by promoting our vision and training clinicians in the use of evidence-based techniques for fetal cardiac screening.

Tiny Hearts Project Stars Strategy

Standards

Promote evidence-based, best practice standards for fetal cardiac screening, in collaboration with professional societies, accrediting and training programs.

Training

Offer innovative, low cost training in screening techniques—both hands-on and multimedia—and ongoing mentorship, feedback and support programs to sonographers and physicians.

Advocacy

Raise awareness of congenital heart disease and the importance of screening quality among professionals, healthcare systems and policy makers, and families.

Research

Investigate the best methods for screening, emerging technologies in fetal imaging, and novel strategies for training sonographers.

Stakeholders

Engage practitioners, insurers, hospitals and families to improve the quality and value of prenatal screening for congenital heart disease.

We Believe:

Screening ultrasound exams of fetal anatomy should include a standardized, thorough evaluation of fetal cardiac anatomy.
The sequential imaging of five transverse views of the abdomen, heart and great vessels, which we refer to as the “5 essential views,” is an evidence-based technique demonstrated to detect a majority of critical congenital heart defects.
High quality education and training should be made accessible to sonographers to support their proficiency and confidence in fetal cardiac imaging.

Testimonials

"Improved fetal cardiac screening is an urgent priority because prenatal detection directly improves outcomes for these babies. Tiny Hearts Project offers a proven solution to saving lives by offering low-cost, personalized training of the 5 essential views to sonographers."

- Helena Gardiner, MD

"It was a great seminar! Very informational! It definitely took what I thought I knew about the heart to a whole new level."

- Ochsner Health Course Attendee

"I told all my co-workers about the conference and hoping to return next year. GREAT CONFERENCE. Very relatable to scanning everyday!"

- Eastern Virginia Medical School Course Attendee

"Exceptional conference. Learned so much. Loved the extensive image demos including scan optimization. Loved the live scanning as well."”"

- University Health San Antonio Course Attendee

"I highly recommend this training conference to all sonographers of any background as it can help you fine tune your skills and potentially aid in early detection of fetal heart abnormalities. I know this training gave me the confidence to do these screenings when needed. Thank You for starting this wonderful resource for sonographers everywhere!"

- Zohreh Russell, Diagnostic Sonographer

"For seasoned sonographers, the training served as a beneficial refresher, reinforcing best practices and sharing practical tips easily integrated into daily workflow. For fellows and students, the course provided an empowering introduction to one of the most complex areas of fetal imaging, hopefully setting a strong foundation for their future growth."

- Jena Theriot, Sonographer Specialist- Maternal Fetal Medicine

    Tiny Hearts Project is an initiative of Mindful Sonography Inc., a Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

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