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MEDICAL MILESTONE: 5000 CARDIAC
CATHETERIZATIONS
Albemarle Hospital set a milestone August 10, 2004,when
it performed its 5000th Cardiac Catheterization. The hospital
began Cardiac Caths in April 1998, when it created a permanent
Cardiac Catheterization Lab.
"Prior to this, the tests were done in a mobile unit,
or patients had to travel to Virginia or Greenville,"
said Lindsey L. White, M.D., the primary advocate for initiating
the Cardiac Catheterization program. "Offering this
fairly routine test in the community is the right thing
to do for patients."
Cardiac Catheterization is a diagnostic test done thousands
of times each day in hospitals throughout the country. In
this outpatient procedure, a doctor guides a thin plastic
tube called a catheter through an artery (or vein) in the
leg (or arm), into the heart and opening of the coronary
arteries in the heart. A Cardiac Catheterization is usually
not uncomfortable for the patient, who remains awake throughout
the process.
Albemarle Hospital's Cardiac Catheterization
Team
This test uses the catheter to inject contrast dye into
the coronary arteries to determine if there is blockage.
Cardiac Catheterizations can measure blood pressure, how
much oxygen is in the blood, and also provide other information
about the pumping ability of the heart muscle. When appropriate,
the cardiologist can implant a "stent," which
is a small metal tube that forces the artery to open, thus
allowing blood to flow more freely.
Albemarle Hospital has been improving the lives of patients
through this procedure for more than six years, performing
several Cardiac Catheterizations each day.
"The procedure is considered the 'Gold Standard'
of tests for determining Coronary Artery Disease",
said Wanda Burns, Service Line Administrator for Cardiovascular
and Pulmonary Services at Albemarle Hospital. "We continue
to progress, now offering routine angioplasty and stent
placement in our facility, so patients and their families
aren't inconvenienced by having to leave their homes and
community during an already stressful time for them."
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