Cardiology

Arrhythmias occur when the heart's electrical signals short circuit. This causes uncoordinated or irregular contractions of the heart muscle. These irregular contractions can cause an abnormally slow heartbeat (bradycardia) or abnormally fast (tachycardia). Different types of arrhythmias can occur in different chambers of the heart. AFib is the most common type of arrhythmia, originating from the upper chamber (atria).

Our electrophysiology physicians work closely with surgeons and cardiologists to ensure coordination of care. If you receive a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), a dedicated nurse will follow up with all of your monitoring appointments so you get the quality care you deserve.

We can help you control symptoms and manage arrhythmias with:

• Primary and secondary stroke prevention—coordinated multidisciplinary anticoagulation clinic, left atrial appendage closures and AFib detection
• Rhythm control—antiarrhythmic medication management, percutaneous ablation, and hybrid, isolated, or concomitant surgical ablation
• Rate control—specialized services that focus on preventing or improving heart failure
• Anticoagulation—blood thinning medication, such as warfarin, that prevents blood clots and stroke

We offer lifesaving, minimally invasive procedures that help clear blocked arteries and improve blood flow to the heart muscle. After a heart attack, other procedures might be needed to improve structure and function of the heart, restore blood flow near damaged tissue or regulate heart rhythm.

We also offer procedures to treat chronic chest pain and reduce your risk of further heart problems. Our team can help you determine the best road to recovery and path for prevention.

We offer a heart failure program and treatment that involves managing symptoms and reducing the risk of further damage. Our surgical procedures can sometimes repair other conditions that contribute to heart failure and help the heart work more efficiently.

Our advanced heart failure program offers:

• 24-hour on-call support
• Care coordination with other medical providers
• Comprehensive patient and family education
• Lab studies to determine treatment needs and monitor therapy effectiveness
• Medical therapy
• Supportive services, such as nutrition, pharmacy and social services
• Treatment of related conditions, including anemia, sleep apnea, diabetes mellitus and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Urgent evaluation for clinical status change to decrease emergency room (ER) visits
• Weekly outpatient assessments to determine need for IV diuretics or medication titration

If you have a heart valve disorder, we'll connect you with cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and interventional cardiologists who work together to determine the best option for you.

Our structural heart team regularly takes on challenging cases, such as repair or replacement of multiple valves or operations to correct unsuccessful valve surgeries. In fact, many of our patients are considered high-risk, including people who have had several prior heart surgeries, pre-existing medical conditions or have been turned down for heart surgery at other hospitals.

We provide an extensive range of innovative heart and vascular surgeries, including:

• Ablations—convergent and hybrid ablations involve advanced heart-mapping technologies and minimally invasive techniques to treat longstanding and complex cases of AFib
• Arrhythmia device implantation—to monitor and treat arrhythmias; includes implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), subcutaneous ICDs (S-ICDs), pacemakers, laser lead-wire extraction and replacement and left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) devices
• Heart failure device implantation—to manage heart failure and monitor artery pressure while helping the heart pump blood; includes ventricular assist and wireless monitoring devices
• Mini-maze surgery—a minimally invasive procedure that uses ablation to fix nerve clusters that may cause the heart to misfire and cause irregular heartbeats for AFib; works by creating a “maze” of scar tissue on the heart, through which the electrical impulses of the heart transmit to regulate the heartbeat
• Mitral regurgitation treatment—rather than perform an open-heart mitral valve replacement, our doctors can perform a repair using a clip; this minimally invasive procedure implants a tiny clip where the leak occurs, fixing the valve and reducing mitral regurgitation
• Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) treatment—minimally invasive procedures to remove plaque, fatty deposits and blood clots while inserting stents for reinforcement; if needed, we also offer traditional bypass surgery
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)—an alternative to open-heart surgery, this minimally invasive approach delivers a new valve using a catheter
• Transmyocardial revascularization (TMR)—an innovative, clinically proven treatment for angina (chest pain)
• Varicose vein treatments—procedure to eliminate varicose veins and improve blood flow by sealing or closing the diseased vein; patients treated with this system experience less pain and bruising and have faster recovery times

To ensure we provide you with complete diagnostic and treatment options, our cardiologists also offer advanced heart care procedures such as: