Interventional Cardiology

Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital's experienced heart catheterization team performs procedures using balloons, stents and other devices to open blocked or repair damaged blood vessels of the heart or body. This often avoids the need for heart surgery.

Heart conditions can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke or loss of limbs.

Common treatable conditions include:

• • • Coronary artery disease (narrowing of the coronary arteries)
    • Heart valve disease
    • Peripheral vascular disease

Procedures and treatments offered:

• • • Diagnostic imaging and pressure measurements
    • Balloon angioplasty
    • Clot extraction
    • Fractional flow reserve measurements
    • Intra-arterial ultrasound
    • Temporary pacemaker insertion
    • Rotational atherectomy
    • Stent insertion
    • Intra-aortic balloon pump/circulatory assist device insertion
    • Cardiac catheterization

Quality Heart Care, Close to Home

Lake Cumberland’s three cath labs treat about 3,900 patients annually and enable a range of interventional procedures such as pacemaker and defibrillator implants, removal of blood clots in the lungs and treatment of heart blockages with angioplasty and/or stent insertion. The emergency department at Lake Cumberland is also integrated with the local emergency medical system (EMS), allowing healthcare workers to initiate a STEMI Alert from the field or someone’s home, which means significantly faster treatment times for patients once they arrive to the hospital. STEMI is the acronym for ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction, a very serious type of heart attack during which one of the heart’s main arteries become blocked.

As an American College of Cardiology Accredited Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI, Lake Cumberland’s work in heart health emphasizes the importance of standardized diagnostic treatment programs that provide more efficient and effective evaluation as well as more appropriate and rapid treatment of patients with chest pain and other heart attack symptoms. The “with PCI” designation indicates that Lake Cumberland also uses percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)—angioplasty and/or stenting—as its primary treatment for heart attacks. LCRH also has access to additional cardiovascular-specific resources including advanced education and training for physicians, nurses and staff, and programs and services for patients as a network affiliate of UK’s Gill Heart & Vascular Institute.