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It would be difficult to overstate the seriousness and prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the United States — nearly half of adults have some form of cardiovascular disease, and heart disease is the nation’s leading cause of death.
In our efforts to bring these numbers down, fellowship-trained cardiologist Dr. James Kim and our team offer a wide range of diagnostic and treatment options for cardiovascular disease, including cardiac catheterization.
Here’s a look at the different types of this procedure and how it can play an invaluable role in restoring your heart health.
Cardiovascular disease can be extremely difficult to identify, because many conditions don’t produce any symptoms during the earlier stages. In fact, people often don’t realize that they have a problem until the unthinkable happens, such as a heart attack or stroke.
Through cardiac catheterization, we’re able to take a close look at your heart and blood vessels to determine whether there’s a problem. To do this, we make a small incision in your groin area (or arm or neck) and thread a catheter through the blood vessel until it reaches your aorta and heart.
Once the catheter is in place, we’re able to visualize your cardiovascular structures more clearly, and we can even determine how well they’re functioning by using a dye — a procedure called a coronary angiography.
Not only can we visualize your heart, its valves, and surrounding blood vessels more clearly, we can also use the catheter to determine pressures in the chambers of your heart and your heart’s pumping strength, to take blood samples to measure oxygenation, and to remove a tissue sample for biopsy.
The information we gather using cardiac catheterization is incredibly valuable and helps us determine next steps.
While cardiac catheterization is an important diagnostic tool, we also use this technique to perform a wide range of specialized treatments, including:
With the use of cardiac catheterization, we’re able to avoid risky, open surgeries thanks to technologies that allow us to use existing pathways to reach your heart.
In using this minimally invasive approach to your heart health, your recovery is far quicker and with less risks of blood loss, infection, and collateral tissue damage.
If you’d like to learn more about cardiac catheterization and whether this tool might hold the key to better cardiovascular health, contact one of our two offices in Chula Vista or National City, California, to set up an appointment.
