Cardiology

Cardiothoracic Surgery refers to the surgeons who specialize in operations on the heart and blood vessels to prevent or repair damage caused by clogged arteries, heart attacks or birth defects. Patients generally see a cardiologist first and receive a referral to a cardiac surgeon. Also called cardiovascular surgery.

Nuclear Cardiology is the use of imaging tests that introduce tiny amounts of radioactive materials, called tracers, into the body to emit energy used by cameras to take very clear pictures of the heart to assess its health.

Non-Invasive Cardiology involves painless and non-invasive (external to the body) tests to evaluate and diagnose disorders of the heart. A person with a history of heart disease, chest pain with unknown cause or valvular heart disease may be referred for non-invasive evaluation.

Interventional Cardiology is a branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases. A coronary catheterization is a minimally invasive procedure to access the coronary circulation and blood filled chambers of the heart using a catheter. It is performed for both diagnostic and interventional (treatment) purposes. A large number of procedures can be performed on the heart by catheterization, such as Angioplasty, Valvuloplasty, congenital heart defect correction, coronary thrombectomy, and cardiac ablation.