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| ===[[Radiation Safety]]=== | | ===[[Radiation Safety]]=== |
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| ----
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| '''Interventional cardiology''' is a branch of the [[medicine|medical]] specialty of [[cardiology]] that deals specifically with the catheter based treatment of structural [[heart disease]]s.
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| A large number of procedures can be performed on the [[heart]] by [[coronary catheterization|catheterization]]. This most commonly involves the insertion of a sheath into the [[femoral artery]] (but, in practice, any large peripheral artery or vein) and cannulating the heart under [[X-ray]] visualization (most commonly [[fluoroscopy]], a real-time x-ray).
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| Procedures performed by specialists in interventional cardiology:
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| * [[Angioplasty]] (PTCA, Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty) - for [[coronary artery|coronary]] [[atherosclerosis]]
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| * Valvuloplasty - dilation of narrowed cardiac valves (usually mitral, aortic or pulmonary)
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| * Procedures for congenital heart disease - insertion of occluders for ventricular or atrial septal defects, occlusion of patent ductus arteriosus, angioplasty of great vessels
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| * Emergency angioplasty and stenting of occluded coronary vessels in the setting of acute myocardial infarction
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| Invasive procedures of the heart to treat arrhythmias are performed by specialists in [[clinical cardiac electrophysiology]]
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| Surgery of the heart is done by the specialty of [[cardiothoracic surgery]]. Some interventional cardiology procedures are only performed when there is cardiothoracic surgery expertise in the hospital, in case of complications.
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| ==See also== | | ==See also== |