Heart and Vascular Care in Louisville

AdventHealth Avista is your home for advanced heart and vascular care, with technologies and services like:

64-Slice Computed Tomography (CT) Scanning

By using coronary computed tomography angiogram (coronary CTA or 64-slice CT) imaging technology, we can assess important heart health information in patients who may not suspect they have heart disease.

Our experts may recommend testing for people who have risk factors for heart disease, such as:

• Family history
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Inconclusive stress tests
• Unusual heart-related symptoms

Until recently, at-risk patients may have only been considered for heart scans such as calcium scoring tests or electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT), which can only measure the hard plaque in the blood vessel, not the soft plaque in the vessel wall.

In seconds, the cardiac 64-slice CT scanner takes multiple X-rays of the heart and its arteries, giving us a picture of the heart that was only available previously with an invasive procedure involving a catheter. Not only can the 3D images tell us if someone has heart disease, but they can also reveal the level of heart damage, even in its earliest stages. This level of detail gives us strong indicators of how to reduce the risk of serious heart disease.

Your AFib treatment may include treatments like:

Tests at Our Electrophysiology Lab

Our electrophysiology lab provides cardiologists and other heart specialists with precise information about heart rhythm problems through various minimally invasive treatments and tests, such as cardiac ablation procedures, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and pacemakers.

Hybrid Ablation

Our first step to treating AFib is usually with medication, like beta-blockers or antiarrhythmic drugs. But when medicines aren’t effective, the next step is catheter-based ablation, delivering radiofrequency energy into the heart to destroy tissue that’s triggering irregular rhythms.

Hybrid ablation involves two procedures separated by six to 12 weeks:

1. Thoracoscopic maze: First, a cardiothoracic surgeon performs ablation on the outside of the heart with a minimally invasive surgical procedure called a thoracoscopic maze, which is achieved through keyhole incisions made between the ribs on both sides.
2. Catheter ablation: Then, about 12 weeks later, an electrophysiologist performs catheter ablation inside the heart, which has a 60 to 80% success rate in patients without heart abnormalities who have had AFib for less than two years.

In the cardiac cath lab, we perform lifesaving heart catheterization designed to open clogged arteries. Heart catheterization is a low-risk, 30- to 60-minute procedure to diagnose or treat cardiovascular disease.

Through minimally invasive intervention, our team can correct coronary artery blockages with balloon angioplasty and coronary artery stenting, including percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, coronary artery stenting and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Some of the cardiovascular and heart conditions that heart catheterization can identify and potentially treat are:

• Cardiomyopathy
• Congenital heart disease
• Coronary artery disease
• Fractional flow reserve (FFR)
• Heart valve problems

With expert doctors, advanced technology and efficient processes, our Comprehensive Stroke Center is ready to deliver advanced stroke care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We have telestroke treatment capabilities, which allow our specialists to connect with patients via a videoconference, so a rapid assessment can narrow the time necessary to minimize permanent injury to the brain.

We also feature a separate neuro-ICU with teams trained in stroke care and an acute stroke rehabilitation program that gives patients the strengths and skills needed to return to their highest level of function.

Our streamlined, rapid-response cardiac treatment provides lifesaving care to people experiencing chest pain and heart attack. Diagnostic and treatment speed are essential to save lives in a cardiac emergency. When a patient arrives in our emergency room with chest pain symptoms, EMS follows a cardiac-specific protocol while emergency nurses and doctors begin testing, evaluation and, if necessary, immediate transfer to our catheterization lab.

We also provide cardiac short-stay care for low-risk chest pain patients who need cardiac care and monitoring without the expense, diagnostic exposure or considerations of a full hospital stay.

As an accredited Chest Pain Center, we maintain a strict set of criteria aimed at:

• Monitoring patients when it isn’t certain they are having a heart attack to ensure that they are not sent home too quickly or needlessly admitted to the hospital
• Reducing the time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis and treatment
• Treating patients more quickly during the critical window of time when the integrity of the heart muscle can be preserved

Early detection is an important way to identify abnormalities. With our robust offering of cardiac testing, we can locate and treat conditions more quickly than ever. Our board-certified cardiologists and radiologists lean on years of mastering cardiac screening to diagnose heart disease and other medical conditions.

Using state-of-the-art technology and the expertise of a comprehensive cardiovascular treatment team, we perform diagnostic procedures and testing, including:

• Calcium-scoring heart scans
• Cardiac catheterization
• Cardiac imaging studies
• Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT)
• Computed tomography (CT) calcium score
• Coronary computed tomography angiogram (CTA)
• Echocardiogram
• Electrocardiogram (EKG)
• Lipid or advanced lipid testing
• Sleep studies
• Stress testing
• Treadmill testing

Cold sweats, unusual tiredness, anxiety and loss of appetite might sound like symptoms of hormone changes or getting older. But they can actually be signs of heart disease, the leading cause of death in women. Because women experience heart disease differently than men, we believe treatment should also be different. And that starts with care led by a highly skilled cardiologist who understands women’s heart health.