The average human depends on their heart beating about 100,000 times a day, every day, all of their life. Even the smallest of heart problems can affect a person, causing a range of symptoms from simply tiring out too quickly to needing emergency care.
That’s why your heart health is a really big deal – and FHN’s Heart Health team is devoted to keeping your heart in the best shape possible!
“We completed a major technological upgrade to our cardiac catherization lab (“cath lab”) at the beginning of 2022, and our team has an equal focus on helping people reduce their cardiac risk through cardiac rehabilitation,” says FHN Director of Imaging Services and Cardiac Services Katie Alvarado, MBA, RT(R)(N), CNMT.
The recent cath lab upgrade project gave our providers and caring team new, high-definition “eyes” – a fluoroscopy unit that offers very highquality images at the safest, lowest radiation dose to each patient. “The updated technology enables us to view real-time images in high definition,” says FHN Cardiologist Prasad Kilaru, MD, FSCAI, FACC.
“We are also able to manipulate the view and move in different angles, which allows for better visualization of some vessels.”
The Volcano intravascular ultrasound imaging system (IVUS) monitors the pressure inside the patient’s arteries and enables the provider to see the patient’s arteries from “inside out.” An added Penumbra tool system uses the power of suction to help the team remove clots.
The FHN cardiac services and cath lab teams are able to perform a wide range of tests to assess the health of a patient’s heart and circulatory system, from the standard treadmill stress test and tilt table test to angiograms, echocardiograms, carotid ultrasounds, and vascular studies of the peripheral system.
The upgrade also means that, if our caring team finds an issue during a diagnostic test, FHN’s Prasad Kilaru, MD, FSCAI, FACC can place a stent to open up blockages and perform a thrombectomy to remove clots. Our cardiac team also is able to implant permanent pacemakers for heart rhythm problems.