Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Imaging
The first step toward a healthy heart is to determine the type and extent of cardiovascular disease. Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center provides heart care, offering advanced diagnostic equipment. Experienced clinical cardiologists use a wide range of cardiac procedures to diagnose heart disease, including cardiac catheterization.
Our cardiac catheterization lab (cath lab) features all-digital cardiovascular imaging systems that allow cardiologists to view blood vessels, even hard-to-see ones, with enhanced clarity. These imaging systems allow physicians at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center to better view and treat coronary artery blockages that could cause heart attacks or other serious cardiovascular damage.
The cath lab team at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center has continued to produce impressive results compared to national standards. National guidelines developed by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) state that hospitals treating STEMI (ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction) patients with emergency coronary angioplasty should reliably achieve a First Medical Contact (FMC) to device activation time of 90 minutes or less. The cardiac cath lab consistently performs below the 90-minute mark.*
The cath lab is also a member of the FMC Alliance, which was developed to make what is currently extraordinary performance ordinary by providing hospitals with key evidence-based strategies and supporting tools needed to begin reducing their door-to-balloon times.
Treatment options offered by the cath lab includes:
- Diagnostic cardiac catheterizations
- Angioplasty to treat diseased arteries
- Stent placement, to include both bare metal and drug eluting stents. When indicated, stents are used to open a severely diseased heart artery.
- IVUS and FFR analyzers are also available in the lab and utilized when needed on questionable lesions (blockages)
*FMC to device activation refers to the interval from EMS arrival time to inflation of the balloon catheter within the patient's blocked artery. STEMI refers to the most severe type of heart attack caused by complete blockage of a coronary artery.