Cardiology

Diagnostic heart tests are vital to monitoring the health of your heart. For example, heart screening allows you to take preventive measures to decrease your risk of heart disease. Similarly, heart imaging allows our doctors to form an accurate diagnosis and individualize your treatment.

Screening and imaging services provided at our hospital include:

• Echocardiogram: This imaging procedure is an ultrasound of the heart that produces images of the valves and chambers and how they are functioning.
• Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG): This procedure records the electrical signals that your heart produces through electrodes placed on your chest.
• Link device: This form of monitoring allows you to wear a small device for an extended period of time, usually one to two days, while it continuously records the heart's rhythm.
• Stress testing: This form of screening monitors the heart's rhythm, blood pressure and heart rate under times of physical stress, such as during exercise.
• Transesophageal echocardiogram: This type of echocardiogram is performed with the assistance of an ultrasound probe in the esophagus. Transesophageal echocardiograms provide clearer images because they do not have to pass through additional soft tissues, like bones and skin.

Angiography imaging technology

In addition to our extensive radiology and imaging services, our hospital has an advanced angiography suite. It is equipped with a cutting-edge imaging system designed to diagnose and treat diseased blood vessels.

This system provides us with high quality images but also acts as an assistive device in performing surgeries to restore blood flow, such as angioplasty and stenting.

The advanced system offers the following advantages:

• Automatically follows injected contrast agents (dyes) throughout the body while producing continuous images
• Removes image obstructions, like bone and other dense matter, in real time, creating a clearer view of the vessel
• Takes images of blood vessels from multiple angles during a single run of a contrast agent

The cardiac cath lab at our hospital provides lifesaving cardiac and vascular interventions. Our team quickly diagnoses blockages in blood flow and provides swift treatment to prevent as much damage as possible.

Diagnostic exams and procedures offered in our cath lab include:

• Cardiac angiography and intervention: This examination allows our team to visualize any blockages in the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart. If a blockage is found, we are able to intervene to improve blood flow to the heart.
• Peripheral angiography and intervention: This examination assesses blood flow and any potential blockages in the extremities, most often the legs. If needed, our team can intervene and open up blocked arteries to improve blood flow.
• Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI): Also known as a balloon angioplasty, this is a nonsurgical procedure that restores blood flow to blocked arteries. It uses a small balloon, which is inserted through a catheter and advanced to the blockage site, that is inflated to open the artery. Sometimes, a stent may also be inserted to keep the artery open.

A heart attack is an emergency medical condition, and the best thing you can do is call 911 to receive immediate treatment. Then, emergency medical services (EMS) personnel will begin your treatment when they arrive, which saves critical travel time when immediate care is needed. This lifesaving care is continued when you enter the emergency room (ER) at our hospital.

The type of emergency heart attack treatment you receive at our hospital will depend on the type and extent of the blockage. Your treatment may include administering tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a clot-busting medication, or performing a balloon angioplasty.

Knowing the signs of a heart attack can help save crucial time when you or someone you know is exhibiting symptoms. These signs include:

• Chest discomfort or pressure
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Pain in one or both arms, back, neck, jaw or stomach
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating

Sometimes, women may experience additional symptoms that are not as common among men. These symptoms may include:

• Squeezing going into the neck
• Shoulder or jaw pain
• Upper abdominal or middle back discomfort or pressure

For some heart conditions, the best treatment option will be surgery. In these cases, our cardiologists, cardiac interventionists and vascular surgeons can help.

They have extensive experience in performing routine and complex surgeries and procedures, including:

• Cardioversion: This is a procedure that corrects heart arrhythmias by delivering electric impulses to the heart via electrodes placed on the chest.
• Carotid endarterectomy: This surgery is used to remove plaque buildup in the carotid artery, which restores blood flow in an effort to reduce the risk of cerebrovascular accident (stroke).
• Embolization: This is the surgical blocking of a blood vessel aimed at preventing blood flow to certain areas.
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) insertion: An ICD is a small device that is connected to the heart muscle and continuously monitors the heart rate and regulates the heartbeat when electrical irregularities occur.
• Inferior vena cava (IVC) filter: An IVC filter is placed in the inferior vena cava, a vein supplying blood to the heart, that helps prevent blood clots from traveling to your lungs through the blood.
• Pacemaker insertion: A pacemaker is a small device that is inserted into the chest or abdomen to provide stabilization for the heart if you have an arrhythmia. The pacemaker sends a signal to help the heart beat at a normal rhythm when an irregular heartbeat is present.
• Peripheral vascular surgeries: This is the surgical treatment of arterial conditions and includes procedures like balloon angioplasty and stenting.
• Transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR): This procedure treats patients with carotid artery disease by stabilizing the plaque with a stent implanted directly into the carotid artery. Patients who undergo the TCAR procedure recover quickly and return to full and productive lives with less pain, smaller scars and a reduced chance of future strokes.
• Vascular access catheterization: This procedure uses a catheter, which is inserted into a blood vessel, to draw blood or deliver medication directly into the bloodstream.