Pei-Ni Jone, MD, An International 3D Echo Expert Joins Lurie Children’s

When Dr. Pei-Ni Jone came to the United States from Taiwan, her dream was to study music. But that dream was soon sidetracked when she realized her fingers were not long enough and began her path towards a medical degree in pediatric cardiology. “The heart, its sounds, its beat, to me, is most similar to music," says Dr. Jone, the new Director of Echocardiography Laboratory at Lurie Children’s Heart Center.

Pei-Ni Jone, MD, brings with her the expertise and drive to push the envelope when it comes to research and finding new innovative ways to treat cardiac patients with the lowest amount of radiation, not only for them, but for the entire medical staff present during the procedure.

Her goal for the Heart Center at Lurie Children’s is to make it the premiere destination for pediatric cardiac imaging, whether it is utilizing the 2D echo, 3D echo, or her latest agenda item which includes strengthening and increasing the ability for tele-echo medicine. The echo cardiac program at Lurie Children’s is already one of the few pediatric centers in the nation conducting 3-D procedural guidance. The collaboration that is needed to carry off such a procedure is no easy feat and requires a strong partnership among several expert team members from cardiac imaging, cath lab and pediatric CV surgery.

Working together, the team of specialists can use 3D echocardiography to define the anatomy of the heart more precisely prior to surgery for better planning of next steps; precisely reduce the amount of radiation by targeted 3D echo guidance and evaluate the heart function for the appropriate medication and treatment. The end result is improved patient care outcomes with more efficient procedures and reduction to radiation exposure.

With this already in place, the next step would be to increase the real-time scanning, already provided, resulting in a faster diagnosis and a quicker transport if a patient should need it. Tele-echo technology, is next on Dr. Jone’s agenda. This technology allows users to talk, text, screen share or stream live video from the ultrasound system to a PC or mobile device. The ability to provide real-time guidance and expertise to the sonographers and providers at partner hospital locations is essential. This technology would allow us to reach even more patients nationally and internationally.