Jun 8, 2026 · 45 min · 13 segments
Dr. Lam-Rachlin returns to Healthful Woman to discuss fetal echocardiograms, a procedure she describes as “one of the most fascinating part of the stuff that we do on a day-to-day basis.” She and Dr…
Jennifer Lam-RachlinGuestSo we're going to talk about fetal echocardiograms today and we touched on this like a year ago when we had our last podcast just in terms of you know your interest in it and that we're doing it but I thought we'd really do a deep dive into fetal echoes as we call them sort of why we do them who might need them what do we do and just so people understand but how has it been for you just in practice doing fetal echoes for you know the past several years?
I might be biased, but I think it's one of the most fascinating part of the stuff that we do on a day-to-day basis.
I think the fetal heart is just amazing in terms of the different pathology that we see.
And it's a complicated structure, but it also makes a lot of sense, which is probably why I like it so much.
And the heart itself is bewildering to a lot of people because it's, you know, there's a lot of parts and not only there's a lot of parts, there's literally a lot of moving parts, right? It's in motion at all times.
And so it's A, how is it built? B, how is it moving? How are these things in relation to another? There's a rhythm that has to be to it.
But the thing that for, you know, us when we're doing this, that we know, and maybe some of our listeners don't know is the the way the blood flows through the heart is different in a fetus from a child or adult.
The moment that the baby makes his or her first cry, that entire circulation changes to what our normal circulation is, and the fetal circulation is entirely different, which makes it very fascinating for us as prenatal diagnosis sonographers.
And I mean, the concept is, you know, after birth, you know, the way we get oxygen to our blood is we have to breathe it in.
So you take a deep breath, it goes into your lungs, and then the heart has to somehow get blood to the lungs to pick up the oxygen, then spread that blood around the body to deliver it.
So we're going to talk about fetal echocardiograms today and we touched on this like a year ago when we had our last podcast just in terms of you know your interest in it and that we're doing it but I thought we'd really do a deep dive into fetal echoes as we call them sort of why we do them who might need them what do we do and just so people understand but how has it been for you just in practice doing fetal echoes for you know the past several years?
I might be biased, but I think it's one of the most fascinating part of the stuff that we do on a day-to-day basis.
I think the fetal heart is just amazing in terms of the different pathology that we see.
And it's a complicated structure, but it also makes a lot of sense, which is probably why I like it so much.
And the heart itself is bewildering to a lot of people because it's, you know, there's a lot of parts and not only there's a lot of parts, there's literally a lot of moving parts, right? It's in motion at all times.
And so it's A, how is it built? B, how is it moving? How are these things in relation to another? There's a rhythm that has to be to it.
But the thing that for, you know, us when we're doing this, that we know, and maybe some of our listeners don't know is the the way the blood flows through the heart is different in a fetus from a child or adult.
The moment that the baby makes his or her first cry, that entire circulation changes to what our normal circulation is, and the fetal circulation is entirely different, which makes it very fascinating for us as prenatal diagnosis sonographers.
And I mean, the concept is, you know, after birth, you know, the way we get oxygen to our blood is we have to breathe it in.
So you take a deep breath, it goes into your lungs, and then the heart has to somehow get blood to the lungs to pick up the oxygen, then spread that blood around the body to deliver it.
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