Cardiovascular Imaging test are used to screen for heart disease, determine what is causing your symptoms and monitor your heart and find out if your treatment is working.

Cardiac imaging is a subspecialty of diagnostic radiology. A cardiac radiologist supervises or performs and then interprets medical images to diagnose diseases of the heart such as heart disease, leaky heart valves, and defects in the size and shape of the heart.

A cardiac radiologist uses imaging techniques such as X-rays, ultrasound (echocardiograms), CT (computed tomography) scans, and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans.

Cardiac catheterization is a non-surgical test in which a small catheter (or hollow tube) is guided through a vein or artery into the heart. This test shows many heart-related problems such as narrowing of the arteries, outside heart size, inside heart chamber size, pumping ability of the heart, ability of the valves to open and close, as well as measurement of the pressures within the heart. Your physician may also recommend injecting a contrast medium (dye) through the catheter to examine your arteries; this is called angiography (or arteriography). This dye makes it easier to view the vessels and heart through the use of an X-ray.

The Cardiac Cath Lab at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital provides non-surgical procedures, such as cardiac catheterization, to assist physicians in diagnosing various peripheral vascular and cardiopulmonary diseases that include:

• Coronary artery disease
• Heart valve disease
• Peripheral vascular disease
• Cardiomyopathy (weakened heart muscle)
• Cardiomegaly (enlarged heart)
• Congenital defects