East Atlanta Cardiology

Cardiac catheterization is a procedure done by the Cardiologist using X-ray imaging to look at the inside of the heart’s blood vessels.  It is also called a heart cath or cardiac cath.  It is done for people who have a positive stress test or other cardiac test, who have been diagnosed with a heart attack (MI), or have recurrent chest pain.  The procedure is done in an outpatient setting at a hospital.  The hospitals that EAC use for cardiac catheterization are Rockdale Medical Center, Dekalb Medical Center, and St. Joseph’s Hospital.  

The procedure is performed by inserting a catheter into the femoral artery through the right or left groin.  The hollow catheter is then inserted through the artery until it reaches the heart.  The doctor then injects dye through the tube and watches it go through the blood vessels in the heart via special x-ray equipment.   Blockages that may be in the arteries are then revealed on the X-ray machine.  It also shows the pumping action of the heart and allows the Doctor to diagnose any problems that may be occurring with the heart valves.

A stress test is primarily used to identify coronary artery disease. It requires patients to exercise on a treadmill or exercise bicycle while their heart rate, blood pressure, electrocardiogram (ECG), and symptoms are monitored.

The body requires more oxygen during exercise than at rest. To deliver more oxygen during exercise, the heart has to pump more oxygen-rich blood. Because of the increased stress on the heart, exercise can reveal coronary problems that are not apparent when the body is at rest. This is why the stress test, though not perfect, remains the best initial noninvasive practical coronary test.

The stress test is particularly useful for detecting ischemia (inadequate supply of blood to the heart muscle) caused by blocked coronary arteries. Less commonly, it is used to determine safe levels of exercise in people with existing coronary artery disease.

We perform two types of stress tests:

• Exercise Stress Test
• Nuclear Treadmill Test
  

The transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is an alternative means of producing echocardiograms of the heart. As opposed to the standard echocardiogram, in which the transducer is placed over the chest wall, in TEE the transducer is passed into the esophagus (the swallowing tube) and is positioned directly behind the heart.