Interventional Cardiology: Treatments and Techniques

Interventional cardiology patients naturally want to know they are receiving the best care from their interventional cardiology team. Let’s look at the answers to these questions. Why might you be referred to interventional cardiology care? What interventional procedure can you receive? How do you know you can trust interventional cardiologists?

What is an Interventional Cardiologist?

An interventional cardiologist is a doctor who specializes in diagnostic tests, creating a treatment plan, and treating heart disease or other cardiovascular issues such as peripheral vascular disease using minimally invasive techniques and catheter-based procedures. These medical professionals do not focus on traditional open surgeries.

Typical Training for Interventional Cardiologists

After attending medical school a doctor can then go on to choose a special field they would like to train in. It takes years of specialized training to work in the field of interventional cardiology. Patients can trust that interventional cardiologists have received plenty of training in a broad range of advanced techniques and treatment options.

Internal Medicine Residency

After medical school comes a three-year residency. This is where most doctors will find their passions and carve out their career paths. The program aims to give the doctors a firm understanding of internal medicine and qualify them for board certification.

Cardiology Fellowship

After residency comes a general cardiology fellowship. This is where someone who wants a future in interventional cardiology can gain experience and a good understanding of overall cardiovascular health and cardiovascular disease. A deep understanding of the heart and blood vessels, blood flow, and overall heart health is essential for a future interventional cardiologist. This is a three-year program.

Interventional Cardiology Fellowship

An interventional cardiology fellowship takes one or two years. During this time, interventional cardiologists will focus on performing procedures using catheters. They can work with other specially-trained cardiologists to hone their skills in doing interventional procedures. To become an interventional cardiologist a doctor needs to perform 250 interventional cardiology procedures. However, this is hardly the end of their training. A well-trained interventional cardiologist will have performed over 1,000 procedures.

Conditions Treated by Interventional Cardiologists

A wide variety of conditions are treated by interventional cardiologists. Interventional cardiology can provide optimal care to even high-risk patients while still using minimally invasive procedures. Here we will discuss two main categories treated with interventional cardiology.

Coronary Artery Disease

The narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart is called coronary artery disease. When this happens, patients are at risk of a heart attack and might need the help of a minimally invasive procedure to improve blood flow. Interventional cardiology offers patients a safe way to treat clogged arteries and other heart disease to, hopefully, avoid open heart surgery.

Structural Heart Disease

Structural heart disease is caused by a defect in the heart, coronary arteries, or valves. These conditions can either be present from birth or develop later in life. Doctors use interventional cardiology to treat some cases of aortic stenosis, atrial septal defect, and mitral valve disease. They prefer minimally invasive procedures for these conditions because they reduce recovery time.

Interventional Cardiology Procedures: An Overview of Minimally Invasive Procedures and Cardiac Care

We’ve covered a few conditions treatable with interventional cardiology; now, let’s explore the procedures in detail and when doctors might use them. From aortic valve replacement to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), interventional cardiology can treat heart disease and offer life-changing results with a high level of patient satisfaction.

Before deciding on the best treatment an interventional cardiologist will conduct all necessary diagnostic tests, including stress tests, and weigh the benefits and risks of performing procedures on certain patients. They may even consult with other specialists to make sure you receive personalized care.

Angioplasty

One type of heart disease causes blockage of the coronary arteries. In angioplasty, an interventional cardiology procedure, doctors insert a catheter into the radial or femoral artery and thread it to the blocked coronary artery. They use a small balloon to open the blood vessel and restore blood flow. A similar procedure, called coronary angiography, helps assess the degree of blockage in the coronary arteries. This type of minimally invasive procedure can help the patients recover quicker than open heart surgery.

Stent Placement

A stent is a small wire tube that interventional cardiologists place inside a blood vessel to improve blood flow. A stent can restore blood flow in a blocked blood vessel, prevent a heart attack, and even eliminate the need for open-heart surgery. Doctors can also use this interventional cardiology procedure after a myocardial infarction. Both stent placement and angioplasty are commonly referred to as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

The stent is placed on the end of a catheter and threaded through an artery similar to angioplasty. An interventional cardiologist will either use a radial artery approach or an artery in the femur.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)

When patients experience narrowing of the aortic valve an interventional cardiologist might recommend they undergo a transcatheter aortic valve replacement. The TAVR procedure is done by threading a catheter through an artery in the leg and up to the aorta. The benefit of this procedure is that patients recover quickly as the catheter travels in the blood vessels, avoiding open heart surgery.

Mitral Valve Replacement

Another similar interventional cardiology treatment to the TAVR is a transcatheter mitral valve replacement. The advantage to patients is that this interventional cardiology procedure doesn’t require the use of a bypass machine.

Conclusion

When many people think of heart health they imagine only the treatment for heart attack or major surgery. As we have seen, interventional cardiology offers patients safe treatment for many diseases of the heart and blood vessels without having to undergo open heart surgery. Interventional cardiologists are highly trained and skilled at performing procedures that are minimally invasive and have shorter recovery times.

The field of interventional cardiology is always changing with the development of new stents, treatments with stem cells, advancing techniques, and the use of clinical trials to assess the success of new treatments. Interventional cardiology patients can be assured they are getting high-quality personalized care.