Our Services & Specialties

Angiography

Angiography generally involves using a catheter (thin, flexible tube) to introduce liquid dye into blood vessels to increase the visibility of arteries on X-rays. The most familiar procedures of this kind are ablations, coronary angiography and coronary angioplasty. With specialist staff using leading-edge equipment we can perform all these procedures and more (see below). Typically performed under local anaesthetic, angiography normally requires a day visit and occasionally an overnight stay.

Ablation

An ablation is a relatively non-invasive procedure that involves inserting a catheter into a blood vessel, often through a site in the groin or neck, and navigating the wire into the heart using a fluoroscope (a device that provides continuous images of the catheter’s progress). This process can be used, for instance, to deliver a mild radiofrequency energy to rectify the abnormal heart rhythms caused by arrhythmia.

Coronary angiography

Coronary angiography is used to assess the flow within coronary arteries. Using a miniaturised ultrasound probe, an image of the vessel wall can be generated that can then be used to determine the best strategy for treating narrowing of the coronary arteries.

Coronary angioplasty

Similar to coronary angiography, coronary angioplasty involves the treatment of narrowed coronary arteries by inflating balloons and placing stents (metal meshes to splint arteries open) into them to treat heart problems such as angina.

Cardioversions

Used to treat atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm involving the two upper chambers of the heart), a cardioversion is a brief electrical shock delivered to the heart either externally or internally using a catheter placed within the heart (see http://www.arrhythmiacentre.co.uk).

Pericardial aspiration

Pericardial aspiration removes potentially life-threatening fluid that can build up around the heart by inserting a needle through the chest and into the space around the heart to drain the liquid.

Permanent pacing (including biventricular pacing)

Cardiac resynchronisation therapy involves a special type of pacing (biventricular pacing) used to resynchronise the heart and improve breathlessness (see http://www.arrhythmiacentre.co.uk). Alternatively, to treat slow heart rhythms, a generator can be implanted under the skin with leads running directly into the heart.

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators

This special type of implanted pacemaker delivers shock therapy to the heart whenever it detects life threatening heart rhythms.

Electrophysiological studies

During ablation procedures used to treat patients with cardiac arrythmias including atrial fibrillation, catheters are used to cauterise the areas within the heart causing the problem (see www.arrhythmiacentre.co.uk).