Cath Lab

Intermountain Medical Center Heart Services are designed to meet the needs of heart patients throughout the Intermountain west. These services are provided through a team approach of coordinated care provided by highly skilled doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, dieticians, social workers and exercise therapists.

Diagnostic & Interventional Procedures
Heart Catheterization/Angiography
This procedure allows cardiologists to diagnose and treat heart disease. A wire is inserted into the femoral artery (groin), threaded through the arterial system and into the arteries that surround and supply blood to the heart. A contrast dye is injected and X-ray pictures are taken to diagnose the disease.

If the problem is diagnosed as blockage of one or more arteries in the heart, then several interventional techniques can be used to open these coronary arteries blocked by plaque. Plaque is a subgstance that builds up on the artery wall like hard water deposits in a pipe.

These techniques include:

• Balloon angioplasty: A small balloon inflates to compact plaque against the arterial wall. This procedure takes approximately one hour.
• Stent: A small metal mesh device acts as a permanent scaffold to prevent arterial collapse. This procedure will take about 60 minutes.
• Rotablator: This device shaves off layers of plaque from the arterial wall.
• Excimer laser: A laser removes arterial plaque by burning it off.
• Brachytherapy: Beta radiation is used to treat in-stent restenosis.
• DES (Drug Eluting Stents): Stents are coated with a drug to prevent restenosis.
• Angiojet: This device extracts clots from the artery.

Electrophysiology
An electrophysiology study (EPS) is an invasive test of the electrical system of the heart. During the study, the heart is paced in various ways to study the speed and location of the flow of electricity within the heart. In many cases, the study is an electrical test drive to see if the heart has the tendency to go into potentially dangerous rhythms that require treatment.

Therapies for various rhythm disorders
Medications, radiofrequency catheter ablation, permanent pacemaker implantation, implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), ablation of atrial fibrillation, and bi-ventricular implantable cardioverter defibrillator for treatment of heart failure.