The normal blood supply to the heart
Your heart of course needs is own blood supply to carry oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle and structures through arteries and take away waste products via veins. So the heart has coronary arteries, which can become diseased causing symptoms such as chest pain, breathlessness and reduced exercise tolerance. Acute blockage of these vessels causes a heart attack. The veins in the heart virtually never get diseased or need treatment. Most people have two coronary arteries, both arise from the aorta and there is one on the right and one on the left. The portion of heart supplied by each of these varies from person to person. An angiogram is a test used to put dye into arteries and diagnose problems with the blood supply to the heart.
CT coronary angiogram
This is a commonly used first line test to look at the coronary arteries, patterns of narrowing/blockage and is safer than an invasive angiogram. These can be done at the Spire and some other hospitals where we work. The test is normally done by a cardiac radiolologist. Like all CT scans it involves a small dose of radiation. The data is sometime sent for special flow measurements called a heartflow study.
Invasive diagnostic angiogram (Left heart Catheterisation)
An invasive diagnostic coronary angiogram (also called Cardiac catheterisation or left heart catheterisation) is an invasive diagnostic procedure that provides detailed information about the structure and function of the heart and its arterial blood supply. It is often used to investigate symptoms such as chest pain, breathlessness, abnormal heart tests or suspected coronary artery disease.
Right heart catheterisation
Right Heart Catheterisation provides a comprehensive assessment of how the right heart is functioning by measuring pressures within different chambers of the right heart and lungs. This test is often done at the same time as Left Heart Catheterisation.
Standby coronary angiogram
This is a procedure whereby an invasive diagnostic angiogram is done first (the gold standard investigation for assessing the coronary arteries) and then if advanced invasive tests needed these are done and if appropriate then proceeding to treat narrowed or blocked arteries with stents, all in the same sitting.
Pressure wire assessment of coronary arteries
While coronary angiography provides a visual assessment of a narrowing within a coronary artery, it does not always determine whether that narrowing is significantly affecting blood flow to the heart muscle.
Intravascular ultrasound of coronary arteries
Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) is an advanced imaging technique that allows cardiologists to see inside the coronary arteries from within the blood vessel itself.
Coronary artery stenting
Coronary artery stenting is a minimally invasive procedure used to treat narrowed or blocked coronary arteries and restore blood flow to the heart muscle.
Rotablation of coronary arteries
Rotablation is a specialised coronary intervention used to treat heavily calcified coronary arteries that cannot be adequately treated using standard balloon angioplasty techniques.
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