Heart and vascular surgery

Our Cardiac Catheterization Lab, which has served the Treasure Coast since 1988, enables us to provide you with advanced diagnostic tools. Cardiac catheterization involves sending a thin, flexible tube (catheter) through the arteries to examine and identify problems in the heart. Our heart teams use these tools to determine which type of procedure will be most beneficial to you.

Minimally invasive surgeries include procedures and techniques that use small incisions and tools. Because of this, these approaches typically offer shorter recovery times and reduced scarring. We offer a range of minimally invasive, interventional procedures — such as angioplasty and coronary stent placements — for both heart conditions and vascular diseases.

Endoscopic vein harvesting is a minimally invasive procedure that allows us to obtain veins for a heart bypass through a one-inch incision in your leg. Traditional harvesting requires a much larger incision, so the endoscopic approach reduces postoperative pain and recovery times.

Open-heart surgery is an invasive surgical procedure in which cardiothoracic surgeons operate on the heart's muscles, valves or arteries. These procedures are often called "traditional surgeries," and they involve larger incisions and longer recovery times than minimally invasive surgical options.

We perform a variety of open-heart surgeries as part of our cardiology services, including:

• Coronary artery bypass grafting: Grafting is a treatment option to improve blood flow to the heart. It's often performed following a heart attack or to lower your risk of heart disease. During this procedure, we'll reroute blood vessels so blood can flow around narrow or blocked coronary arteries.
• Valvular repair or replacement: If one of the heart's valves is damaged, we can perform minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) (TAVR is not an "open-heart" surgery) to repair or replace the valve(s).