Cardiology

Cardiac catheterization is a heart imaging procedure used to both diagnose and treat cardiovascular conditions. During the procedure, a catheter (thin tube) is inserted into an artery or vein and maneuvered through your blood vessels to the heart. A cardiac catheterization provides your doctor with information on how well your heart works, identifies potential problems and allows for procedures to open arteries that are blocked.

Our heart care specialists are able to provide a wide range of testing options to determine your cardiac condition, including:

• Cardiac computerized tomography angiography (CCTA)
• Cardiac calcium scoring
• Nuclear medicine
• Stress testing
• Transthoracic echocardiogram
• Transesophageal echocardiogram

If you have experienced heart rhythms that are too fast or too slow, an electrophysiology (EP) study can be performed where electrical activity of the heart muscle is recorded. An EP study can also be used to determine the origin of the arrhythmia. Some rhythms may be treated with ablation (burning) of the tissue to cause disruption and, in other cases, a permanent pacemaker may be required.

If your treatment plan includes cardiovascular surgery, we partner with our sister facilities in the TriStar Health family of hospitals to provide the best possible surgical treatments for your particular plan of care. We perform:

• Congenital heart abnormality repair
• Carotid stenting
• Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), including minimally invasive
• Coronary rotational atherectomy
• Directional coronary atherectomy
• Endovascular grafting and stenting
• Off-pump bypass surgery
• Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
• Peripheral vascular angioplasty
• Transcatheter aortic replacement (TAVR)
• Valve replacement/repair

Automatic ICDs are devices that can act as pacemakers and provide the heart with an electrical impulse, signaling it to beat when it fails to provide its own impulse. ICDs can detect the onset of heart rhythms that are fatal and can generate an electrical shock to the heart, resetting it into a normal rhythm. These devices are similar to and implanted in the same way as pacemakers, however they are larger in size.

In critical situations, time is everything. The longer it takes to restore blood flow to your heart muscle, the more damage may occur to the heart. When every second counts, you want information about your heart to reach the physician who can help you as soon as possible.

At TriStar Summit, we use mobile health technology to allow our physicians and clinicians to access live, detailed electrocardiogram (EKG) data and images on their mobile device. This immediate access supports faster, more informed and accurate decisions during cardiac emergencies.