Cardiac Catheterization Lab
Plaque is the build-up of cholesterol and other fatty substances that can clog coronary arteries. At Saddleback Memorial's Cardiac Catheterization Lab, our skilled physicians and staff employ a variety of high-tech tools to help detect and remove plaque in order to prevent or delay the need for cardiac surgery.
- 24-hour availability
- Heart Catheterization -- An invasive procedure used to diagnose coronary artery and valve disease. Heart Catheterization is performed by inserting small catheters, or tubes, into peripheral arteries and veins. Then directing the catheters up to the heart to obtain images or the coronary arteries and heart chambers. The catheter also provides a means for obtaining pressure measurements and blood sampling. The information obtained during the diagnostic Heart Catheterization help the Cardiologist decide the best treatment options for the patient.
- Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) -- A procedure in which a balloon is inserted into a narrowed area of a blood vessel. When the balloon is inflated, the narrowed area is stretched open and then the balloon is deflated and removed.
- Coronary Stent Implantations -- This procedure uses a wire mesh tube (a stent) to prop open an artery. The stent stays in the artery permanently, holds it open, improves blood flow to the heart muscle and reduces the risk of restenosis.
- Electrophysiology Studies -- In this procedure, a special electrode catheter is inserted into the vein and guided to the heart. The catheter senses electrical impulses in various areas of the heart and stimulates other areas of the heart. The procedure allows the physician to assess the heart's electrical function and identify potential sites of the heart that can cause life-threatening arrhythmias.
- Radiofrequency Ablation Therapy -- A physician guides a catheter with an electrode at its tip to the area of heart muscle where there's an accessory pathway. Then a mild, painless radiofrequency energy (similar to microwave heat) is transmitted to the site of the pathway. Heart muscle cells in a very small area are ablated and stop conducting the extra impulses that caused the rapid heartbeats.
- Pacemaker Implants and Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator (ICD) -- An artificial pacemaker is implanted to control the heart's beating and rhythm by emitting a series of electrical discharges. An ICD continuously monitors a patient's heart for any rapid and/or irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias). When the ICD detects an arrhythmia, it delivers shock therapy to your heart, converting it back to a regular rhythm.
- Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (biventricular pacing) -- This new therapy improves the ventricular pumping efficiency in moderate to severe heart failure patients with ventricular dysynchrony by simultaneously pacing both the right and left ventricles.
- Valvuloplasty -- A procedure in which a balloon is inserted into the opening of a narrowed heart valve. When the balloon is inflated, the valve is stretched open. Tthen the balloon is deflated and removed.
