Treatment and Procedures
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
An x-ray of the arteries and veins to detect blockage or narrowing of the vessels. In many cases, the interventional radiologist can treat the blockages, such as those occurring in the arteries in the legs or kidneys, by inserting a small stent which inflates and opens the vessel. This procedure is called a balloon angioplasty.
Angioplasty
The use of a small balloon on the tip of a catheter inserted into a blood vessel to open up an area of blockage inside the vessel.
Artificial Heart or Mechanical Circulatory Support Device Implantation
The Artificial Heart and Mechanical Circulatory Support Devices, sometimes referred to as Ventricular or Heart Assist Device, are designed to provide short or long term cardiac support for patients whose hearts are to damaged or diseased to provide adequate blood flow. Please see the Mechanical Circulatory Support Device page for more information.
A small filter is inserted into a blood clot to catch and break up blood clots
A procedure to attempt to restore normal heart rhythm by sending a perfectly timed electrical shock to the heart causing all the heart cells to contract at once. All electrical activity in heart stops for a brief moment. When it resumes the normal heart rhythm is restored.
Catheter Ablation
Electrode catheters are used to ablate (destroy) small areas of heart tissue that contain irregular electrical pathways. Doctors direct the Catheter, a thin tube, through blood vessels toward the heart and close to the area containing the abnormal pathway. Heat energy is then passed through it and the tip of the catheter heats up and destroys the small area of tissue.
Catheters Insertions
A catheter is inserted into large veins for giving chemotherapy drugs, nutritional support, and hemodialysis. A catheter may also be inserted prior to bone-marrow transplantation.
Coronary Artery Bypass
Coronary artery bypass grafting or is one of the most commonly performed "open heart" operations in the United States. It is performed when there is either a narrowing or blockage in one or more of the coronary arteries. Bypass surgery improves the blood flow to the heart with a new route, or "bypass," around the section of narrowed artery. This surgery involves taking a segment of a healthy blood vessel usually a vein in your leg or an artery from either your chest or arm and sewing it to bypass the section of the diseased coronary artery. This creates a new route for blood to flow so that the heart muscle will get the oxygen-rich blood it needs to work properly. Depending on how many coronary arteries are blocked one, two, three or more bypasses can be done.
The insertion of a substance through a catheter into a blood vessel to stop hemorrhaging, or excessive bleeding.
The use of a catheter inserted into a blood vessel to retrieve a foreign body in the vessel.
Heart transplant is the surgical placement of a healthy heart from a human donor into another individual whose own heart is badly diseased and functioning poorly. Heart transplantation is an option for some people who are not candidates for conventional medical therapy or have not been helped by conventional medical therapy.
Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD)
An implantable converter defibrillator (ICD) is a small device, similar to a pacemaker, that is implanted under the skin, often in the shoulder area just under the collarbone. An ICD senses the rate of the heartbeat. When the heart rate exceeds a rate programmed into the device, it delivers a small, electrical shock to the heart to slow the heart rate. Many newer ICDs can also function as a pacemaker by delivering an electrical signal to regulate a heart rate that is too slow. ICDs are typically used for fast arrhythmias such as ventricular tachycardia.
Injection of Clot-lysing Agents
Clot-lysing agents, such as tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), are injected into the body to dissolve blood clots, thereby increasing blood flow to the heart or brain.
Intravascular Ultrasound
The use of ultrasound inside a blood vessel to better visualize the interior of the vessel in order to detect problems inside the blood vessel.
MAZE procedure for Atrial Fibrillation
The surgical intervention to treat atrial fibrillation is called the MAZE procedure. Through strategic placement of incisions in both atria, the circular electrical patterns that are responsible for this arrhythmia are interrupted and consequently the formation and conduction of irregular electrical impulses is stopped. Scar tissue generated by the incisions permanently blocks the travel routes of the abnormal electrical impulses that cause atrial fibrillation, thus eliminating the arrhythmia. The heart's natural pacemaker originating in the SA node will resume with the normal electrical impulse
A small needle is inserted into the abnormal area in almost any part of the body, guided by imaging techniques, to obtain a tissue biopsy. This type of biopsy can provide a diagnosis without surgical intervention. An example of this procedure is called the needle breast biopsy.
A permanent pacemaker is a small device that is implanted under the skin and sends electrical signals to start or regulate a slow heartbeat If the heart is beating to slowly, pacing wires/leads carry an electrical impulse to the heart causing it to beat at a proper rate. A permanent pacemaker may be used to make the heart beat if the heart's natural pacemaker (the sinoatrial, or SA, node) is not functioning properly and has developed an abnormal heart rate or rhythm or if the electrical pathways are blocked. Pacemakers are typically used for slow arrhythmias such as sinus bradycardia, sick sinus syndrome, or heart block.
Preventative Cardiology
Our preventative cardiology program offers education and programs to help you stay healthy and help your heart stay stupid.
A tiny, expandable coil, called a stent, is placed inside a blood vessel at the site of a blockage. The stent is expanded to open up the blockage.
Surgical Ventricular Restoration for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
Is a surgical procedure for patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) that restores the enlarged left ventricle (heart chamber) to a more normal size and shape, greatly improving the pumping action of the heart. The surgeon remodels the dilated ventricle using a device sized and shaped like a normal ventricle. This remodeling or ventricular restoration results in improving the heart's pumping ability. When the heart can pump more effectively many of the symptoms associated with CHF, such as shortness of breath, fatigue and edema are improved or relieved
Transmyocardial Revascularization (TMR)
Patients with coronary artery disease are treated with interventional procedures (angioplasty and stenting), coronary artery bypass grafting and medications to improve blood flow to the heart muscle. Sometimes these procedures do not eliminate the symptoms of chest pain, transmyocardial laser revascularization or TMR is another treatment option. A special carbon dioxide (CO2) laser is used to create small channels in the heart muscle, improving blood flow in the heart. The procedure is performed through a small left chest incision or through a midline incision. Frequently, it is performed with coronary artery bypass surgery, but occasionally it is performed independently.
There are several different procedures surgeons may use to repair a valve:
- Valvuloplasty, which strengthens the leaflets to provide more support and to let the valve close tightly. This support comes from a ring-like device that surgeons attach around the outside of the valve opening.
- Commissurotomy, which is used for narrowed valves, where the leaflets are thickened and perhaps stuck together. The surgeon opens the valve by cutting the points where the leaflets meet.
- Decalcification, which removes calcium buildup from the leaflets. Once the calcium is removed, the leaflets can close properly.
- Repair of structural support, which replaces or shortens the cords that give the valves support (these cords are called the chordae tendineae and the papillary muscles). When the cords are the right length, the valve can close properly.
