Cardiology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the heart be it human or animal. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology. Physicians who specialize in this field of medicine are called cardiologists, a specialty of internal medicine. Pediatric cardiologists are pediatricians who specialize in cardiology. Physicians who specialize in cardiac surgery are called cardiothoracic surgeons or cardiac surgeons, a specialty of general surgery.
Specialization
All cardiologists study the disorders of the heart, but the study of adult and child heart disorders are through different training pathways. Therefore, an adult cardiologist (often unqualified and called just "cardiologist") is inadequately trained to take care of children, and pediatric cardiologists are inadequately trained to take care of adults. The surgical aspects are not included in cardiology and are in the domain of cardiothoracic surgery. For example, coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) and cardiopulmonary bypass are both surgical procedures performed by surgeons, not cardiologists.
