Lifesaving Care for Your Heart
When you’re facing a cardiac emergency, don’t leave anything to chance. Trust your heart to the region’s leaders in interventional cardiology.
Our interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons excel at performing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Also called a coronary angioplasty, this is a minimally invasive, catheter-based treatment for coronary artery disease (CAD). This disease is the leading cause of heart attack and one of the most common reasons for interventional heart care.
We’re here to help you find the right physician or a location that’s convenient for you.
Be Informed About PCI to Feel Empowered
- When Is PCI Performed?
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Cardiologists perform percutaneous coronary interventions for STEMI and non-STEMI heart attacks. A severe heart attack, or acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), can be fatal without fast, effective treatment. Our specialists excel at delivering urgent, lifesaving care.
If a coronary artery is entirely blocked, we can perform chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention (CTO PCI). This is a highly specialized procedure that requires the expertise of our world-class team.
A PCI procedure may also be done for people who haven’t had a heart attack but who have severe coronary artery disease. Angioplasty and stenting can help prevent a cardiac emergency.
- How Is PCI Performed?
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During this heart attack treatment procedure, your cardiologist inserts a catheter into a blood vessel in the groin or wrist. The catheter is threaded up to the coronary artery that is blocked by atherosclerosis, or plaque build-up. Once your cardiologist identifies the exact location of the blockage, they can inflate a tiny balloon in the artery to allow blood flow. This procedure is called balloon angioplasty. In some cases, cardiologists implant a stent (small metal or plastic tube) in the artery to hold it open.
- What Are the Benefits of PCI?
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By quickly restoring blood flow to the blocked artery, we can ease chest pain, limit heart muscle damage from oxygen deprivation and, most importantly, save lives, which makes PCI the gold-standard of heart attack treatment.
We Make Sure You Never Miss a Beat
- Exceptional Door-to-Balloon Times
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When you or a loved one has a heart attack and every second counts, you need lifesaving care, fast.
A measurement referred to as “door-to-balloon time” tracks the time between when a heart attack patient is admitted to the emergency room and when a hospital performs a balloon angioplasty to open up a blocked artery.
The American Heart Association recommends a door-to-balloon time of 90 minutes or less for the best possible outcomes for people who’ve had a STEMI heart attack.
In 2019, we averaged 55 minutes — nearly half of the national average.
- Leading-Edge Technology
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With cardiac catheterization(cath) labs dedicated to performing interventional procedures, our highly trained interventional cardiologists and heart surgeons work together to treat life-threatening conditions.
- National Accreditation
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Being an accredited Chest Pain Center for Primary PCI with resuscitation means the center meets the highest standards of patient care when it comes to evaluating, diagnosing and treating patients with heart attacks.
Access Advanced Technology for Your Heart
- Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)
- WATCHMAN FLX™
- Micra™ Pacemaker
- Philips Azurion Image-Guided Therapy
For people who have severe aortic stenosis (a narrowing of the heart’s aortic valve) and may not be candidates for open-heart surgery, groundbreaking procedures like TAVR offer a safer alternative.
AdventHealth surgeons and invasive cardiologists were some of the first in Florida to perform this less-invasive option, which is done through a small incision in the leg.
With advanced procedures like TAVR, we’re elevating our heart care and improving clinical outcomes that mean fewer complications, shorter hospital stays and faster recoveries for our patients.
The WATCHMAN FLX is a small device that’s implanted inside the left atrial appendage (small pouch in the top left heart chamber), closing off a part of the heart where blood clots most commonly form.
Implanting the FLX is a minimally invasive, one-time procedure that helps prevent blood clots, lowering your risk for stroke. The procedure is completed within an hour and patients commonly stay in the hospital overnight and leave the next day.
If you’re experiencing an irregular heartbeat and can’t tolerate blood thinners, the FLX could help. To see if this device could be right for you, click below to learn more.
About the size of a vitamin capsule, Micra is the world’s smallest pacemaker, designed for patients with a slow heart rate. Unlike most pacemakers, Micra is leadless and implanted directly into the heart — all in one minimally invasive procedure with no chest incision needed.
Because Micra is self-contained within the heart, it eliminates possible medical complications arising from a chest incision and from the wires with conventional pacemakers. By using Micra, we’re able to help our patients get back to their regular activities without restrictions.
In the operating room, advanced technologies mean smarter, safer and more efficient procedures. The Azurion image-guided therapy platform from Philips is one such next-generation technology we use in cardiovascular procedures.
This system gives our cardiologists superior imagery and surgical precision. It can also put the controls at your bedside, so your doctor doesn't need to step away to review your measurements. With smarter systems like Azurion, our heart experts are better able to treat complex cardiovascular issues to help you heal.
Better Heart Health Starts Here
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Coronary Artery Disease
Preventing coronary artery disease can stop a cardiac emergency before it happens. Your coronary arteries supply blood to the heart, and a chronic total occlusion (CTO) is a complete or near-complete blockage in one or more coronary arteries that lasts three months or longer. A CTO commonly develops in people with coronary artery disease. Learn how to reduce your risk and spot the signs as early as possible.
Interventional Cardiologists on Your Side
You’ve got a team of lifesaving heart specialists in your corner, close to home. Meet the world-class experts in your community.
More Options to Help You Thrive
Our Structural Heart Program combines the expertise of interventional cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons and electrophysiologists to provide lifesaving procedures for patients who aren’t candidates for open-heart surgery.