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The new cath lab at Jackson Hospital is equipped with a state-of-the-art system capable of completing diagnostic and interventional cardiac procedures and peripheral procedures without surgery.

Jackson Hospital is committed to using cutting-edge medicine and therapies that treat cardiovascular problems through minimally invasive, interventional
techniques.

With the use of catheters and other advanced tools, specialists can treat a number of problems, such as coronary artery disease, without the need for major surgery.

What is cardiac catheterization?

Cardiac catheterization is an x-ray test that uses dye to reveal the coronary arteries and pinpoint the presence and severity of blockages and, more important, to determine the best treatment available.

If the test reveals a blockage, one of three treatment options will be recommended: medications, angioplasty or bypass surgery.

This test is an outpatient procedure in which the patient is mildly sedated but awake. A local anesthetic is used to numb the injection site (usually the right groin), and soft plastic tubes called catheters are inserted into the artery and guided using x-ray imaging. The dye is injected into the heart chambers and coronaries, and pictures are taken from different angles. This is the best test available to find blockages.

Why is it done?

Cardiac catheterization is primarily used to:

• Check blood flow and blood pressure in the heart chambers.
• Check blood flow in the coronary arteries. If you have coronary artery disease (CAD), it’s used to determine whether surgery or another type of procedure is needed to open the blocked blood vessels.
• Treat CAD by opening blocked blood vessels (angioplasty).

Jackson Hospital has recently expanded our Heart Center to include an additional cath lab as well as a new pre- and post-procedure unit. We have doubled our ca-
pacity for cardiac catheterization, allowing us to better serve the River Region community as the demand for heart care increases.

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Do 9 things to help your heart

1. Follow a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet.
2. Exercise regularly.
3. Quit smoking.
4. Control your blood pressure.
5. Reduce your fat intake and avoid trans fats.
6. Reduce food additives, such as MSG.
7. Avoid fast food restaurants since they serve high-processed, high-fat, high-sodium foods.
8. Eat smaller meals with balanced proportions.
9. Get enough rest—at least eight hours a night.

Sources: Howard Brazil, MD; Charles Hastey, MD; and John Williams, MD, of Cardiology Associates in Montgomery