Cath Lab
Diagnosing and treating heart and vascular disease doesn’t always require invasive surgery. Catheter-based procedures in the Reid Health Cath Lab offer a less-invasive option.
Catheter-based procedures to diagnose and treat heart or vascular disease
When you think about procedures to treat heart problems, open-heart surgery such as a heart bypass might come to mind. But diagnosing and treating conditions that affect the heart or vascular system doesn’t always require a major procedure.
Today, many heart and vascular diseases can be treated using procedures that require small tubes (catheters) inserted through tiny incisions. These procedures offer many benefits beyond simply alleviating symptoms. Most allow patients to go home on the same day of the procedure or after only an overnight stay.
You also benefit from a quicker recovery, less pain, and fewer complications. At Reid Health Heart & Vascular Center, our care team is proud to offer patients access to these advanced procedures whenever possible through our inpatient and outpatient catheterization (cath) labs, which are accredited by the American College of Cardiology for safety and quality care.
Why choose Reid Health
Your heart is in the right place
Reid Health’s cardiac catheterization lab offers advanced technology and a team of experienced heart specialists dedicated to helping you overcome your heart condition. Our trusted providers have served East Central Indiana and West Central Ohio for years, delivering expert care with a personal touch unmatched at heart centers in large metropolitan areas.
When you come to Reid Health, you can trust that your heart is in the right place.
Getting your heart back in rhythm
The cardiac catheterization laboratories at Reid are used to perform many procedures, including those that can help your heart’s electrical system. These procedures, a type of medicine known as electrophysiology, are performed by specialists in our Rhythm Management Center.
Treatment in the cath lab might include the placement of implanted devices that can restore the heart’s rhythm or an ablation procedure, which destroys heart tissue that’s causing an irregular heartbeat.
Conditions we treat
During catheter-based procedures, a thin tube (the catheter) is inserted into a blood vessel in the wrist, neck, or groin area. Then, your provider directs it to the affected artery using real-time X-ray images. Procedures in the cath lab can be used to diagnose and treat:
- Abnormal heart rhythms, such as atrial fibrillation
- Atherosclerosis (narrowed or blocked arteries)
- Cardiomyopathy
- Congenital heart defects
- Congestive heart failure
- Coronary artery disease
- Heart attack
- Heart valve diseases, such as aortic stenosis and mitral valve regurgitation
- Stroke
Procedures we offer
We offer comprehensive options to diagnose and treat these and many other heart and vascular conditions. Procedures commonly performed in the cath lab include:
Alcohol septal ablation: This procedure increases blood flow by destroying thickened heart muscle.
Cardiac ablation: This procedure destroys tissue that’s causing abnormal heart rhythms.
Atherectomy: This procedure removes plaque in an artery.
Congenital heart defect repair: This procedure allows the cath lab team to correct holes in the heart.
Diagnostic cardiac catheterization: This procedure is performed to identify problems within the heart or the artery wall.
Endovascular therapy: This procedure opens a blocked artery, removes a clot, or delivers clot-busting medication to the brain.
Implantation of devices: Devices can be implanted to prevent blood clots, monitor the heart’s electrical system, or restore a normal heart rhythm.
Percutaneous coronary intervention: Also called angioplasty, this procedure can open a blocked artery.
Stenting: This procedure places a device that keeps an artery open after angioplasty.
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement: Also known as TAVR, this procedure replaces a malfunctioning valve with an artificial one.
Transcarotid artery revascularization: Also known as TCAR, this procedure improves blood flow in the carotid artery and reduces the risk of stroke.
Quick care when it counts most
Providers in our cath lab treat conditions that require emergency care, including heart attack and stroke. When these emergencies happen, immediate treatment is needed to save lives or prevent long-term damage.
When minutes matter, you can find the care you need at Reid. We offer 24/7 interventional catheter-based procedures that could restore blood flow to the heart during a heart attack, treat dangerously abnormal heart rhythms, and remove blood clots in the brain that cause strokes.
You should never have to travel far for medical care. In an emergency, you can access the specialized care you need, right here at home.