WKHL | Cardiovascular Medicine

Echocardiography

Echocardiogram is a test that uses sound waves to create a moving picture of the heart. The picture is much more detailed than x-ray image and involves no radiation exposure. A trained sonographer performs the test, then your heart doctor interprets the results. An instrument that transmits high-frequency sound waves called a transducer is placed on your ribs near the breast bone and directed toward the heart. The transducer picks up the echoes of the sound waves and transmits them as electrical impulses. The echocardiography machine converts these impulses into moving pictures of the heart.

Accredited Echocardiography Laboratory

Western Kentucky Heart and Lung Associates was granted accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL).

Nuclear Cardiology

Our nuclear technologist, Erica Jones, CNMT, is board certified in Nuclear Cardiology.

A nuclear stress test helps measure blood flow to your heart muscle at rest and during stress. It is an exercise stress test with additional nuclear images of the heart muscle performed in order to improve the sensitivity and specificity of the test. This helps the physician in detecting evidence for coronary disease accurately.

Accredited Nuclear Cardiology Laboratory

Western Kentucky Heart and Lung Associates was granted accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories (ICANL).

Nuclear Perfusion Imaging Camera

During a nuclear stress test, a radioactive substance is injected into your bloodstream. This substance mixes with your blood and travels to your heart. A special camera or scanner — which detects the radioactive material in your heart — creates images of your heart muscle. Inadequate blood flow to any part of your heart will show up as a light spot on the images — because not as much of the radioactive substance is getting there.

Coronary and Peripheral Interventions

Cardiac catheterization is a diagnostic procedure in which a long thin tube called a catheter is placed in a blood vessel and then guided to the heart. The catheter may be inserted into either arteries or veins, depending on the information needed, in either an arm or leg. A contrast medium (commonly called "dye") is injected through the catheter to determine whether narrowing or blockages are present in the coronary (heart) arteries, and to measure precisely how well the heart valves and heart muscle function. Several specialized procedures may be performed, each tailored to the patient's special needs.

Electrophysiology

When someone’s heart doesn’t beat normally, doctors use Electrophysiology studies (EPS) to find out why. Electrical signals usually travel through the heart in a regular pattern. Heart attacks, aging and high blood pressure may cause scarring of the heart. This may cause the heart to beat in an irregular (uneven) pattern. Electrophysiology studies test the electrical activity of your heart to find where an arrhythmia (abnormal heartbeat) is coming from. These results can help you and your doctor decide whether you need medicine, a pacemaker, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), cardiac ablation or surgery. These studies take place in a special room called an electrophysiology (EP) lab or catheterization (cath) lab while you are mildly sedated.

Additional Procedures Performed by Specialists:

Electrocardiography
Echocardiography
Transesophageal Echocardiography
Nuclear Cardiology
Cardioversions
Primary balloon angioplasty for acute Heart Attack
Stent placement
Complex multivessel interventions
Chronic total occlusions
Rotational atherectomy
Intravascular untrasound
Fractional flow reserve calculation
Filter wire and percusurge devices
Intra-aortic balloon pumps
Impella device placement
Export catheter devices

Angiojet and proxis devices
Vascular closure devices
Peripheral vascular angioplasty and stent placements
Radio Frequency Ablation and Other Ablation Procedures
Defibrillator Implantation
Pacemaker Implantation
Heart Failure Device (CRT-D) Implantation
Device Explantation and Lead Extraction
Ablation Procedures for Atrial and Ventricular Arrhythmias
Defibrillator Management Clinic
Syncope Evaluation
Tilt Table Test

Other Services:

Holter and Event Monitors
Warfarin Clinic
Lipid Clinic
Device Management Clinic
Pacemaker Management Clinic
Ankle Brachial Index