Heart and Vascular Care in Littleton

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

128-Slice Computed Tomography (CT) Scanning

By using coronary computed tomography angiogram (coronary CTA or 128-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 128-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.

Endovascular Hybrid-Operating Suite

Our skilled surgeons can simultaneously perform traditional open and minimally invasive vascular surgeries in our endovascular hybrid-operating suite. This lifesaving combination of minimally invasive endovascular procedures with open surgical methods leads to shorter hospital stays, faster recovery times, less cosmetic damage, less scarring and better patient outcomes.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)

Patients with life-threatening heart problems may benefit from ECMO, a procedure that draws blood from a large vein in the body and passes it through a machine that adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. The blood is then returned to the patient’s body through the circulatory system. This process substitutes the functions of the heart (for pumping) and provides long-term support for breathing and heart function after standard treatments have failed.

TactiCath™ Quartz Ablation Catheter

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) can be caused by electrical signals in the thin band of muscle surrounding the pulmonary veins. It can be corrected with a pulmonary vein isolation procedure, which destroys the small tissue area by utilizing radiofrequency energy. The TactiCath™ Quartz Ablation Catheter can reduce procedure time for pulmonary vein (PV) isolation. And by using its pressure sensor capability, the catheter creates precision throughout the procedure, allowing for lower AFib re-occurrence rates and fewer tissue lesions.

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.

Fluoroless Ablations

Catheter ablation of AFib has traditionally been done with fluoroscopy technology, which poses radiation risks. Our cardiac team performs cardiac ablations well under the national average for fluoroscopy and X-ray time and even performs some of our AFib ablations without it.

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

Our board-certified surgeons offer a full range of heart surgery procedures for patients throughout Colorado. Our cardiothoracic and cardiovascular surgeons, anesthesiologists, cardiac nurses and specialized medical technicians work together to provide patients with better surgical outcomes by combining advanced cardiovascular treatment technologies with surgical expertise not readily found at other facilities in the region.

Recovering from heart and vascular conditions takes a team of compassionate experts. Our nationally accredited cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs will help you on your journey toward whole-person healing.

Our rehab program features:

• Communication with your health care providers about your progress
• Education to learn more about nutrition, oxygen therapy, smoking cessation, exercise and managing stress and emotions
• Exercise programs under the supervision of nurses, exercise physiologists, respiratory therapists and a medical director
• Individualized personal and program goals, which include monitored progressive exercise, behavior change assistance, psychosocial referral and counseling
• Management of chronic conditions like blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes

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.