Angiography Suite
Calvary Health Care Tasmania has the latest technology available in their angiography suite to treat coronary artery disease. The suite includes the Catheter Laboratory and an adjoining short stay unit adjoining.
Angiograms and Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA or angioplasty for short) are performed as part of the treatment for heart disease and heart attacks. These treatments are undertaken in the Catheter Laboratory (Cath Lab), and they deliver a precise diagnosis and enable the Cardiologists to view detailed images of a patients’ coronary structure, providing faster and more accurate diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease.
An Angiogram is performed by threading a small tube (a "catheter") through an artery in the groin or arm to the beginning of the coronary arteries. When the catheter is in place X-Ray dye is injected and moving pictures are taken as the dye travels through the arteries of the heart. These X-Ray images allow for an extremely accurate diagnosis of coronary artery disease which may lead to heart attack.
Angioplasty is used in the treatment of blocked arteries. In this procedure a catheter with a small balloon on the end is placed in the blockage and inflated. This opens the blocked vessel and may be used with a stent to hold the artery open (a stent is a small metal device which acts like a scaffold to hold the vessel open).
Angiograms may be performed on any area of the body, but commonly include the legs (femoral angiogram) and head (cerebral angiogram).
For a brochure regarding these procedures go to the Heart Foundation Web Site.
Modified 12 Nov 2009
