Services We may ask you to undergo tests to aid in the diagnosis and/or treatment of a known or suspected cardiovascular condition. If we do, we will discuss them with you, schedule them for you, and detail any preparations or dietary restrictions involved. We perform both invasive and non-invasive tests and treatments. ICANL Certified ICAEL Certified Non-Invasive Procedures Transesophageal Echo: Provides a look at the heart using sound waves, generally to assess heart valve function. Performed by passing a tube down the esophagus (food pipe) under mild anesthesia. Holter Monitor Test: Provides a 24-hour recording of heartbeats to help determine if there are abnormalities of rate or rhythm. Echocardiogram: Provides a sonar (sound wave) of the heart, which permits us to view chamber size, heart function, and heart valves. Polysomnography (Sleep Test): The “Gold Standard” of sleep studies, it monitors brain activity, eye movements, muscle tone and limb movement, respiratory and heart activity and oxygen levels. A sleep technologist will put sensors on your body during an overnight stay at the sleep center. Treadmill Stress Test: Permits us to evaluate exercise capacity and to determine whether there are narrowings in the coronary arteries. Tilt Table: Permits us to evaluate loss of consciousness for unknown reasons. Performed by placing a patient on a padded table, which is tilted while blood pressure and heart rate changes are monitored. Nuclear Cardiology Studies: Provide information on blood flow to the heart muscle and/or heart muscle function. Performed by injecting a small amount of radioactive tracer intravenously. Lipid Clinic: A comprehensive program that manages patients' cholesterol through education, nutrition, exercise, and medical treatment. Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP): EECP is a non-invasive procedure for treatment of angina. Large expandable cuffs are placed over the lower extremities, which inflate and deflate in rhythmic motion to promote coronary circulation.   Invasive Procedures Cardiac Catheterization: Permits us to measure pressures, obtain blood samples, and take x-rays of the heart and coronary arteries, by passing a catheter from the right groin artery into the heart. Perctaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA): Permits us to enlarge narrowings in coronary arteries caused by accumulated fatty deposits, to increase blood flow through the artery. Laser Angioplasty: Permits us to use intense light energy to vaporize cholesterol blockage in smaller vessels with long cholesterol blockages. TEC (Transcutaneous Extraction Catheter): Permits us to use a rotating blade to cut through blood clots and cholesterol blockage in coronary artery bypass grafts and larger coronary arteries. Directional Coronary Atherectomy: Permits us to use a spinning blade to slice cholesterol blockages into pieces and trap them in a "nose cone." Rotoblater (Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Rotational Ablation): Permits us to use a small diamond-coated "sanding" burr to remove cholesterol and calcium from hardened vessels in coronary arteries with multiple bends. Stents: Permit us to repair vessels that have been "torn." Performed by expanding a stainless steel wire coil or mesh, which is mounted on an angioplasty balloon, into the coronary artery wall to provide structural support to a newly-opened artery and to prevent recur rence of blockage. Artificial Pacemaker/Defibrillator Implantation: Permits us to implant a back-up to the heart's natural electrical system, to stimulate it, whenever necessary, if it beats too quickly, too slowly, or irregularly.