The Cardiac Center at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital
Physician Biography
Dr. Valdes-Cruz is internationally renowned for her research
in cardiac flow dynamics and the quantification of ultrasound
methods.
She has held a number of academic and professional appointments over the years, most recently as Professor of Pediatrics, and Director of Cardiac Imaging and Research Laboratories at The Children's Hospital in Denver Colorado. Her previous experience includes medical, administrative, research and academic positions in Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Cardiac Imaging at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center/The Children's Hospital, the University of California at San Diego, the University of Arizona and New York University. She underwent postgraduate training in Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology and Fetal Physiology research at New York University, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Nuffield Institute for Medical Research at The University of Oxford, England. In addition, she has been a visiting professor and invited speaker at many other institutions worldwide.
Dr. Valdes-Cruz has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed publications and is the co-author of “Echocardiographic Diagnosis of Congenital Heart Disease: An Embryologic and Anatomic Approach,” a textbook of pediatric echocardiography published by Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins in 1999.
Contact Information
1150 North 35 Avenue
Suite 575
Hollywood, FL 33021
Phone: (954) 985-6939
Fax: (954) 965-6405
Recent Articles
1. Shandas R, Mitchell M, Conrad C, Knudson O, Sorrel J, Mahalingam J, Fragoso M, Valdes-Cruz LM: A General Method for Estimating Deformation and Forces Imposed In Vivo on Bioprosthetic Heart Valves with Flexible Annuli: In vitro and Animal Validation Studies, J Heart Valve Dis. 2001;10(4):495-504.
2. Shandas R, Weinberg C, Nicol E, Ivy DD, DeGroff C, Hertzberg J, Valdes-Cruz LM: Development Of A Non-Invasive Ultrasound Color M-Mode Means Of Estimating Pulmonary Vascular Resistance In Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension: Numerical Analysis, In vitro Validation and Preliminary Clinical Studies, Circulation. 2001;104(8):908-13.
3. DeGroff CG, Bhatikar S, Hertzberg J, Shandas R, Valdes-Cruz LM, Mahajan R: An Artificial Neural Network Based Method of Screening Heart Murmurs in Pediatrics, Circulation 2001;103(22):2711-6.
4. DeGroff CG, Carlton JD, Weinberg CE, Ellison MC, Shandas R, Valdes-Cruz LM: Effect of Aging on the Efficiency of the Total Cavopulmonary Connection: In-Vitro Studies, Pediatric Cardiology 2002;23:171-177.
5. Weinberg C, Hertzberg J, Valdes-Cruz LM, Shandas R: Extraction of pulmonary vascular compliance, PVR and RV work from single-pressure and Doppler flow measurements in children with pulmonary hypertension -- a new method for evaluating reactivity: In vitro and clinical studies, Circulation, 2004;110:2609-2617.
6. Pauliks LB, Pietra BA, Kirby S, Logan L, DeGroff CG, Boucek MM, Valdes-Cruz LM: Altered ventricular mechanics in cardiac allografts: A tissue Doppler study in 30 children without prior rejection events. J Heart Lung Transplant 2005; 24: 1804-13.
7. Pauliks LB, Pietra BA, DeGroff CG, Kirby S, Knudson OA, Logan L, Boucek MM, Valdes-Cruz LM: Noninvasive detection of acute allograft rejection in children by tissue Doppler imaging: Myocardial velocities and myocardial acceleration during isovolumic contraction. J Heart Lung Transplant 2005; 24/7S: S239-S248.
8. Pauliks LB, Chan KC, Chang D, Kirby KS, Logan L, DeGroff CG, Boucek MM, Valdes-Cruz LM: Regional myocardial velocities and isovolumic contraction acceleration pre and post device closure of atrial septal defects: A color tissue Doppler study. Am Heart J 2005: 150: 294-301.
9. Das B, Pauliks LB, Knudson OA, Kirby S, Chan KC, Valdes-Cruz L, Cayre RO: Double-Orifice Mitral Valve with Intact Atrioventricular Septum: An Echocardiographic Study with Anatomical and Functional Considerations. J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2005: 18: 231-236.
10. Pauliks LB, Chan KC, Lorts A, Elias ER, Cayre RO, Valdes-Cruz LM: Sphrintzen-Goldberg syndrome with tetralogy of Fallot and subvalvar aortic stenosis – case report and review of the literature. Ultrasound in Medicine 2005. 24: 703-706.
11. Dyer KL, Pauliks LB, Das B, Shandas R, Ivy DD, Shaffer EM, Valdes-Cruz LM: Use of myocardial performance index in pediatric patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, J. Am Soc Echocardiography 2006;19(1):21-27.
12. Dyer K, Lanning C, Das BB, Ivy DD, Valdes-Cruz, LM, Shandas R: Development and validation of a non-invasive color M-mode tissue Doppler imaging technique for measuring pulmonary artery compliance: in vitro and clinical studies, J Am. Soc. Echocardiography 2006; 19(4):403-412.
Book
Valdes-Cruz LM and Cayre R,: Echocardiographic Diagnosis of Congenital Heart Disease: An Embryologic and Anatomic Approach. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 1998.
Other Publications, Chapters, Monographs
1. Valdes-Cruz LM, Pieroni DR, Jones M, Roland J-M, Shematek JP: Echo contrast studies in the early postoperative period after atrial septal defect closure. In Contrast Echocardiology. Meltzer RS, Roelandt J (Eds). The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1981
2. Goldberg SJ, Valdes-Cruz LM, Allen HD: Microbubble tracking with echo Doppler. In Contrast Echocardiology. Meltzer RS, Roelandt J (Eds). The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1981
3. Goldberg SJ, Valdes-Cruz LM, Carnahan Y, Hoenecke H, Allen HD: Comparison of microbubble detection by M-mode and two echo Doppler techniques. In Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium on Echocardiology. Rijsterborgh H, Hugenholtz PG, Bom N, Roelandt J, and Lancee CT (Eds). The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1981
4. Sahn DJ, Goldberg SJ, Allen HD, Valdes-Cruz LM: Applications of contrast echocardiography for the analysis of complex congenital heart disease in the newborn. In Contrast Echocardiology. Meltzer RS, Roelandt J (Eds). The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Inc, 1981
5. Valdes-Cruz LM, Sahn DJ: Two-dimensional echo Doppler for noninvasive quantitation of cardiac flow: A status report. Modern Concepts of Cardiovascular Disease (Published by the American Heart Association) 51:123 (October), 1982
6. Valdes-Cruz LM, Sahn DJ: Editorial comment, News and Views: Do contrast bubble slopes on M-mode echo reflect velocities of intracardiac flow? International Journal of Cardiology 2:296, 1982
7. Azancot A, Caudell T, Horowitz S, Allen HD, Sahn DJ, Scagnelli S, Stoll C, Valdes-Cruz LM, Goldberg SJ: Quantitative two-dimensional echocardiographic studies of left ventricular shape in the normal fetus and newborn infant. In Proceedings of the 1er Symposium International d'Echocardiologie Foetale. Dellenbach P (Ed). Strasbourg, Roche Bioelectronics and Milupa dietetique, 1982
8. Sahn DJ and Valdes-Cruz LM: Doppler echocardiography and evaluation of congenital heart disease. (Epitome) Western J of Medicine 140(6):935-936, June l984.
9. Valdes-Cruz LM, Yoganathan AP, Sahn DJ, Sherman F, and Swensson RE: Accuracy of color-encoded Doppler flow mapping techniques for defining stenotic jets: Studies in an in vitro model of valve stenosis and in the clinical setting. In Pediatric Cardiology: Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology, New York, June 1985. Doyle EF, Engle MA, Gersony WM, Rashkind WF, Talner NS (Eds) pp 87-88, 1985.
10. Sherman FS, Valdes-Cruz LM, Sahn DJ, Elias W, Jones M, Hagen-Ansert S, Scagnelli S, Swensson RE: Two-dimensional Doppler color flow mapping for detecting atrial and ventricular septal defects: Studies in animal models and in the clinical setting. In Pediatric Cardiology: Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology. June 1985. New York, June 1985. Doyle EF, Engle MA, Gersony WM, Rashkind WF, Talner NS (Eds),pp 201-204, 1985.
11. Sahn DJ, Gerber KH, Simon A, Swensson RE, Valdes-Cruz LM, Hellenbrand WE, Sherman FS, and Chung KJ: Improved diagnostic information from digital angiography performed simultaneously with cineangiography in pediatric patients. In Pediatric Cardiology: Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology, New York, June 1985 Doyle EF, Engle MA, Gersony WM, Rashkind WF, Talner NS (Eds),pp 307-311, 1985.
12. Valdes-Cruz LM and Sahn DJ: Conotruncal abnormalities: Tetralogy of Fallot, truncus arteriosus, and double outlet right ventrical. In Two-dimensional real-time ultrasonic imaging of the heart. Giuliani ER (Ed), Chapter 35, pp 373-381, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague, The Netherlands, 1985.
13. Sahn DJ, Valdes-Cruz, LM: "Ultrasound Doppler methods for calculating cardiac volume flows, cardiac output, and cardiac shunts". In Cardiac imaging: New technologies and clinical applications. M.N. Kotler, R.M. Steiner (Eds). Chapter 2 pp 19-31. F.A. Davis Company, Philadelphia, 1986.
14. Sahn DJ and Valdes-Cruz LM: New Advances in Two-dimensional Echocardiography. In Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. XXVII(5):367-382, (Mar/Apr) 1986
15. Weinberg CE, Hertzberg JR, Chan KC, Kirby KS, Valdes-Cruz LM, Shandas R. Evaluation of Pediatric Pulmonary Artery Input Impedance using Windkessel Models and Doppler Ultrasound: In Vitro and Clinical Studies. Proceedings of the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, 2003.
16. Shandas R, Kim HB, Hertzberg JR, DeGroff CG, Monet E, Valdes-Cruz LM. In Vivo Validation of the Echo-PIV Technique: Animal and Clinical Studies. Proceedings of the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, 2003.
