Cardiovascular Associates provides the latest interventional technology for treatment of heart disease. Utilizing long, flexible, hollow tubes, called catheters, cardiologists can deliver specialized catheters and medicines to diagnose and treat heart disease without surgery.

First a diagnostic picture of the arteries, called a coronary arteriogram or catheterization, is needed. The physician threads a catheter through the entry site (often the groin) and guides it through the main artery in the body, called the aorta, into the opening of the left, or right, coronary artery. Through this catheter, the physician injects a small amount of contrast dye. X-rays pictures are taken which highlight any blockages or plaques located within the coronary arteries. Depending on the number, severity and location of these blockages, the patient may be a candidate for medical therapy, bypass surgery, or catheter-based interventional procedures.

Interventional options include:

• Percutaneous Ttransluminal Coronary Angioplasty - also referred to as "angioplasty", "balloon dilation", or "PTCA". In this procedure, devices are inflated to compress the plaque against the artery wall allowing adequate restoration of blood flow through the artery.
• Coronary Stenting - a tiny metal mesh structure which comes in a variety of sizes and designs (which resembles a spring in a ball point pen) may be placed within the artery to hold it open.
• Drug-Eluting Stent - or DES, has become a standard interventional procedure. The drug-eluting stent is a bare metal stent that is coated with a drug formulation designed to inhibit plaque from "re-blocking" the artery.
• Atherectomy - uses a catheter-based device that actually removes the plaque. There are a number of different types that may shave or cut away the plaque and remove it from your artery.
• Rotational Atherectomy - a device that may be used if the plaque has become hardened or calcified. A diamond ‘burr’ rotates at extremely high speeds and "bores" through the plaque to pulverize the plaque into harmless microscopic particles that are then washed away by the blood.

What does this test evaluate?